Elliott keeps cool, overcomes Dover adversity

The Dover 200 NASCAR Nationwide Series race had barely begun – the incident occurred on Lap 40 of the 200-lap event – and a 20-point advantage in the standings suddenly seemed questionable.

The damage to his car was mostly cosmetic, and thanks to the wonders of bear bond adhesive tape, Elliott was able to race his way back into contention, eventually finishing third behind winner Kyle Busch and Joey Logano.

With teammate Regan Smith, second in points, finishing eighth, and Ty Dillon and Brian Scott also unable to take advantage of the misstep, Elliott departed Dover with a 26-point advantage.

"I kind of saw it coming as we exited Turn 4; everything kind of funnels into one groove," Elliott said of the incident, which began when the lapped entries of Swindell and Tanner Berryhill made contact right in front of his No. 9 Chevrolet.

"I saw they were pretty close together and it seemed like they realized they were going to hit each other and they checked up and then kind of spun out.

"I couldn't get on the brakes; the way the cars unload here, I started to wheel-hop the rear tires and couldn't get stopped as fast as I wanted to. It was my fault for following too close."

His crew surveyed the damage on pit road, noting that the contact had opened up a hole in the left front. "If we don't fix it, it's not going to be good" he was told.

Once repairs were completed, Elliott restarted the race 24th. Any concerns about damage were quickly silenced.

"I had no complaints from the get-go," he said. "Unfortunately the issue … set us back far enough where we couldn't really do anything different on pit road to try to gain a couple of spots. Then when we did two (tires), everybody else did as well. But that's just racing."

He was back inside the top 10 less than 20 laps after the crash, but spent much of the second half of the race trying to get around Logano. On a couple of occasions it seemed as if he might reel in the Team Penske Ford, but each time Logano was able to hold the position.

"If anything, I think we might have tightened it up a little too much but that last adjustment was really good; I really felt like it was spot on," Elliott said. "If I could have gotten by the 22, I would have liked to have seen what we could have done from there."

Busch, who took the lead during a round of pit stops at the halfway point, led the final 101 laps; Logano had led 95 of the first 99.

As strong as the two Cup regulars appeared, Elliott said they were "catchable, for sure."

"A lot of it is just whoever gets out front," he said. "We saw (Logano) get out front and he dominated the race and we were all over (him) the last 50 laps. Then whenever the 54 (of Busch) gets out front, he was struggling early on, he gets out front and he's dominating.

"So a lot of it is just who gets out front and … trying to stay out of trouble, which I did not do today.

"We were definitely fortunate; it could have been a lot worse. The biggest thing for me was it was just a lesson learned. That was my fault."

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