CONCORD, N.C. -- After the first event of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Chase Elliott and Jimmie Johnson are both inside the top eight in the standings.
Elliott leads the two Hendrick Motorsports teammates in sixth place, 11 points behind the leader. Johnson left Chicagoland Speedway eighth in the standings, 13 points behind the leader.
Let's take a look at some key takeaways from Chicago.
ELLIOTT STARTS STRONG
In the first race of his first Chase, Elliott led 75 laps and had a shot at Victory Lane down the stretch.
However, one final caution waved with the rookie in the lead and less than 10 laps remaining.
"I expected it," Elliott said. "We've all watched this stuff long enough; we know these races don't go green that long, typically. We know that we see late-race cautions way more often than not."
But expecting it didn't make it any easier to stomach. After heading to pit road, Elliott took the final restart in fifth.
"You hate to have it happen," Elliott said. "As you get faced with these situations more than once, I think you learn. You learn from situation to situation."
He ultimately took the checkered flag third.
"I felt like we did a good job as a team today trying to control the things that we could control," he said. "I appreciate everybody’s hard work this weekend. Hendrick (Motorsports) was strong -- that is good to see."
PENALTY SLOWS JOHNSON'S RUN
Between Elliott and Johnson, the two teammates led nearly 200 laps, with Johnson's 118 pacing the field.
"I'm very proud of this Lowe’s team and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports," the driver of the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet SS said. "We are digging."
But during Johnson's final green-flag pit stop, he was penalized for speeding on pit road.
That sent him back in the pack to the 15th position, and after the race the driver said he was "dumbfounded" by the penalty.
"Definitely a mistake on my side, but I by no way shape or form thought that I was speeding," he said. "I was probably the slowest down pit road all day just to try to avoid it and got nailed. I will soak on it tonight and come back next week and be at 100 percent again and get ready to take this Lowe’s car to Victory Lane.”
Sunday at Chicago, he recovered to gain three positions and cross the finish line 12th.
"I just can’t believe I got in trouble down there leaving the pits," he reiterated. "I feel terrible for these guys. It should have been a top-five day, but I will back down pit road even more and try not to make that mistake. Hats off to the team for our fast Lowe’s Chevrolet -- I just screwed up.”
TOP-10 TRIO
Behind Elliott's third-place result, teammates Kasey Kahne and Alex Bowman joined the rookie inside the top 10.
Kahne was up next in seventh, and he was proud of the adjustments the No. 5 team made all afternoon.
"We had about an eighth-to-10th-place car and we ended up seventh -- it was a good team effort," he said. "I feel like we had a great Liftmaster Chevrolet."
As for Bowman, his 10th-place result was his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series top-10 finish.
“It means a lot that Hendrick Motorsports has taken a chance on me and I really appreciate the opportunity to be here and we wish Dale (Earnhardt Jr.) a speedy recovery," he said. "Everybody at Hendrick Motorsports and Axalta worked so hard. They brought a great race car."
Bowman credited No. 88 team crew chief Greg Ives for the call to take two tires late in the race, which the driver said helped the team take home "a solid top-10."