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BROOKYLN, Mich. -- Chase Elliott won't be celebrating a runner-up result in Sunday's Firekeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
Not at all.
The 20-year-old Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender stood dejected on pit road following Sunday's 400-miler in the Irish Hills while race-winner Joey Logano did burnouts in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford behind him.
One would never know Elliott just recorded a career-best finish in the Sprint Cup Series.
"Not a good day," Elliott said. "Can't do dumb stuff and expect to win these things. When you do dumb stuff, you don't win. I did dumb stuff today."
The No. 24 driver took over the lead at Lap 115 and ultimately paced the field for 35 laps. A dwindling fuel tank was a lingering worry for the No. 24 team, as the gasman was unable to get the car full during a yellow-flag pit stop at Lap 148. But it was the late-race restarts --which also included a missed shift, according to Elliott -- that were the Achilles' heel for his shot at earning his first career Sprint Cup Series win.
"Completely my fault," Elliott said. "The guys gave me a great car today. This whole NAPA group has been working so hard these past few weeks, and that one was on me."
Crew chief Alan Gustafson took the blame off his young driver's shoulders.
"I think we got 98 things out of 100 right," Gustafson said in the garage post-race. "Couple things we missed potentially could have cost us there. The fuel ended up not costing us, but it could have if we hadn't gotten all those cautions.
"It's close, it's close -- you've just got to keep putting yourself in position. I think we learned a few things that we can do better moving forward that will help us in the future."
Elliott's post-race disappointment came as no surprise to Gustafson, as he tends to be harder on himself than most young drivers. Despite his six straight top-10 finishes and sixth-place spot in the driver standings, Elliott emerges from the No. 24 Chevrolet after each race vowing to do better and bearing the burden for missed opportunities.
"We were working on some stuff and we put him in a very difficult box," Gustafson said. "He's taking the blame, but it's not his fault. So, we tried to gain an advantage and I think it ultimately hurt us so we'll have to go back and reevaluate that and put him in a little bit better position next time."
"Next time" comes in two weeks, as the series is on hiatus next weekend, returning to the track on June 26 for the Toyota Save-Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway (3 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.)
And Gustafson thinks his rookie driver will bounce back just fine.
"He's hard on himself," he said. "We're all hard on ourselves. We want to win. We know we have the team to win and we definitely have the team owner and the sponsors and everybody around that we need to win races.
"When you miss, you're dejected, but at the same time you've got to take the positives and build on them. He'll be fine. He doesn't lack any confidence or he won't lose any confidence from it.
"So, we'll fix our issues and improve and just get stronger."