CONCORD, N.C. – Late in Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Chase Elliott was gaining ground inside the top 10.
After he took a starting position outside of the top 25 last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway and turned it into a 10th-place result, he was looking for his second consecutive top-10 finish.
“We were just trying to be solid today and make the most of what our NAPA Camaro had, and I thought we were doing a pretty good job of that,” Elliott said. “Kind of like we did last week, trying to get a little bit better.”
On pit road just before the start of the final segment, quick work by the No. 9 team allowed Elliott to jump from ninth to fifth for the ensuing restart. And when the green flag waved, he jumped up to fourth.
“I thought we were getting a little bit of momentum,” the driver of the No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 said. “We had a really good pit stop there and gained a bunch of spots on pit road, got ourselves inside the top five and could run with them for a few laps.”
But with fewer than 85 laps to go, a car got loose underneath Elliott, pushing up the track into the No. 9 Chevy and, ultimately, the wall.
“He just got loose on the bottom there and I was, unfortunately, the guy that was up top,” Elliott explained. “Just kind of there at the wrong spot in the wrong situation and headed home early."
The resulting damage ended the No. 9 team’s day early. Elliott was scored 34th.
“It happens, and it’s unfortunate,” the driver said. “Nothing you can do, just move on down the road and hope that next week goes a little better.”