CONCORD, N.C. – In the inaugural Bank of America ROVAL 400 Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Chase Elliott battled through the demanding conditions of the brand-new racetrack to pick up a sixth-place finish and secure his position in the Round of 12 in the process.
“A lot of ups and downs, a lot of things going on,” Elliott said of the race. “Just played too much defense there at the end – we knew we had a little bit of a cushion and just really didn’t want to get crashed those last two laps. Just tried to be smart.”
In all three road-course events of the 2018 season – Sonoma, Watkins Glen and the Charlotte “roval,” Elliott earned top-10 finishes.
In Sunday’s race, Elliott started fourth and finished the opening stages in fifth and sixth, respectively, gaining 11 total extra points with the stage results.
When a red flag waved with six laps to go after a multiple-car incident, Elliott was running seventh, but he jumped into third once the race continued. Playing it safe in the final three laps, Elliott was shuffled outside of the top five to finish sixth.
“It’s just hard and you can’t feel comfortable in those situations there at the end,” the driver said. “I wish I had been a little more aggressive on that last restart. I felt like I was playing defense.”
Though he had hoped for a higher finish, making sure to clinch his spot in the Round of 12 was his primary focus.
“It’s just not worth busting your butt and not making it through to the next round when you had a little bit of cushion,” he explained. “So, I am just glad we are moving on and I am looking forward to the next three because there are some good tracks for us.”
The second round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs begins this weekend at Dover followed by races at Talladega and Kansas.
Currently ninth in the standings, Elliott is hopeful the No. 9 team can continue to make progress and build momentum in the next round.
“Dover’s been a decent one for us,” he said. “I feel like we’ve had some good runs at times at Kansas and then who knows about Talladega. Just looking forward to getting to them and seeing what we got and move on down the road.”