Chase Elliott in must-win scenario after early wreck at Texas

Chase Elliott's playoffs hopes took another hit Sunday afternoon with an early crunch that left him with a 32nd-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway. RELATED: Race results Elliott's Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 Chevrolet slid out of the groove and made sizable contact with the Turn 2 retaining wall on Lap 9. He limped back to the pits for repairs. "Sorry, guys," Elliott told his No. 9 crew after initial repairs were complete. "I wasn't even really trying to push that hard." Elliott's hopes for advancing to the Championship 4 were already in jeopardy after mechanical issues left him with a 36th-place finish last weekend at Martinsville Speedway. That trouble left him ranked eighth among the remaining title-eligible drivers. Elliott stayed in eighth after Sunday's early issue in Texas, but now with a 78-point deficit that puts him in a must-win situation to seal a title shot next Sunday at ISM Raceway near Phoenix, host track of the Round of 8 finale. "I made a mistake, got loose and crashed. I really hate that happened," Elliott said. "Obviously, it’s not good and not what you’re looking for. It’s just my mistake and there’s really no excuse for it. It’s just all eyes on Phoenix." Elliott was the final car scored as running at the finish, 22 laps off the pace.