Rookie increases his points lead to 48 with two races left
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FORT WORTH, Texas – It wasn’t a win, but Chase Elliott called it “one of the best efforts we’ve given from start to finish.”
The JR Motorsports driver finished fourth in Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway, extending his NASCAR Nationwide Series points lead to 48 on teammate Regan Smith (11th).
“To qualify 11th, to run around back 10th, 12th, 13th, and be able to drive up to the top five – that is so, so hard to do in the Nationwide Series,” Elliott, 18, said.
“Phenomenal pit stops gained us spots on pit road; Greg (Ives, crew chief) made the perfect adjustments and we were right there with them at the end. (We were) just a couple of steps short; we were gaining.”
Should he maintain his points advantage next week when the series moves to Phoenix International Raceway, Elliott would wrap up the series title with one race remaining.
Elliott found himself battling an ill-handling car early as eventual race winner Kyle Busch (Joe Gibbs Racing) and runner-up Joey Logano (Team Penske) were dominating Saturday’s 200-lap event. Adjustments brought the No. 9 car to life and solid pit stops kept him from losing spots on pit road.
“The back of the car wasn’t in the track,” Elliott said. “As we ran, we fixed that and then we were too tight with the nose; Greg made some good adjustments to try and get the balance right, front to rear, and we finally got that. Then we tweaked the air pressure a little bit and we got the car where it was pretty quick. We were right there; we gained on the leaders a good bit that second to last run. They yarded me getting on and off pit road, just my mistake we need to do better there.”
The championship might be within his grasp, but Elliott, son of 1988 premier series champion Bill Elliott, says increasing his win total (he’s a three-time winner this season) is the objective for his No. 9 team.
“Just (running) one race at a time and trying to get some more wins before the year is over,” he said. “That’s our goal. I said before … the past couple of weeks we really haven’t been where we wanted to be from the performance side, not getting the results that I feel like we can get as a team.
“I don’t think we’ve sat in the truck and discussed the points situation one time the whole season and I don’t think there’s any need in starting now. We’re just trying to step up and battle for the win. We’re capable of doing it.”
Brian Scott (Richard Childress Racing) sits third in points, 63 behind Elliott while Elliott Sadler (JGR) sits 68 back and RCR’s Ty Dillon (-75) round out the top five.
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