CONCORD, N.C. -- Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports took home four finishes inside the top 20, including three in the top 12.
BACK-TO-BACK TOP-5s
Chase Elliott and the No. 24 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet SS team had another strong finish in Las Vegas this week. He finished in the top five at the end of all three stages, just as he did last week in Atlanta.
“I’m really proud of the way we have performed,” Elliott said.
He credits his team for having good pit stops and helping him carry the momentum from Atlanta to Vegas.
“Our pit stops have been great,” Elliott explained. “Our car has been good, we have been able to run solidly in the top five the past couple of weeks, which is great for me and our team.”
LUG NUTS KEEP JOHNSON FROM BIGGER DAY
Elliott wasn’t the only Hendrick Motorsports teammate focusing on pit road strategies.
“I know we had some creative strategy working at the end that was going to play well,” Jimmie Johnson said. “Then we pitted and came out in seventh. We probably would’ve had a top-five if we wouldn’t have had to come back down.”
Late in the race, Johnson had to head back to pit road due to loose lug nuts.
“It was coming our way and then we had some lug nuts not get on, on the last stop and had to come back in,” Johnson explained. “We had just about everything go wrong that we could today and somehow finished in 11th.”
KAHNE PROUD OF 'ANOTHER GOOD EFFORT'
Kasey Kahne also thought about pit road strategy as he continued to build on his momentum from the past couple of races.
After having to make an extended pit stop to work on the car in the first stage, he finished Stage 1 in 20th. Kahne worked his way back into the top 15, finishing 15th in Stage 2. He then gained three more positions in the final stage, taking the checkered flag with the No. 5 LiftMaster Chevrolet SS just outside the top 10 in 12th.
Kahne acknowledged the progress and said he'll look for even better moving forward.