Losing the lead to Carl Edwards as he headed to pit road, Chase Elliott‘s strong run at Kansas Speedway quickly took a turn with tire issues hindering the performance of his No. 24 Chevrolet.
The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup contender pitted just past the halfway mark on Lap 173 as a cycle of green-flag stops unfolded. Elliott then pitted for a second time on Lap 175 to fix a left-rear tire rub on his race car.
A caution then came out Lap 176 with Kyle Larson scraping the wall in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Chevy.
None of the leaders pitted during the caution, putting the Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate a lap down — a stark contrast from his strong run during the event’s first half. Elliott restarted 26th.
“We’ll run her until she breaks,” Elliott told his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team.
Trouble hit again for the No. 24 team on Lap 245 with a flat tire. Elliott, off the pace, brought his limping Chevy back to pit road. The race remained under the green flag.
Elliott returned from pit road three laps down and in 32nd-place.
The 20-year-old finished the day 31st and heads to next week’s Talladega Superspeedway race on the bottom of the Chase Grid — 25 points behind Joey Logano, who holds the final provisional transfer spot to the Round of 8 as he sits eighth on the grid.
“(We will) just go there and race our hearts out and try to win, I guess,” Elliott said, post race, of his team’s deficit. “That’s all you can do.”