Chase Elliott’s 600 bid foiled by late yellow flag, pit-road shuffle

A fateful caution period pegged the meter on Chase Elliott's radio as the laps wound down in Sunday's Coca-Cola 600. "I've never in my life, man," Elliott lamented after a late spin by teammate William Byron brought out a yellow flag that erased his lead, transforming his bid for a signature NASCAR Cup Series victory from a virtual sure thing to an unraveling thread. Elliott's No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet crew opted to pit for four tires before the final restart, dropping him from the top spot to 11th place as the field lined up for overtime. He rallied for a second-place finish behind race-winner Brad Keselowski in the two-lap scramble to the end at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Elliott had finished third, but Jimmie Johnson's disqualification for failing post-race inspection moved him in the finishing order. RELATED: Race results | Charlotte race week schedule "You just make the best decision you can based on the information you have," said Elliott, who led 38 laps before surrendering the lead in the last of eight caution flags. "When you are leading the race like that, people behind you are going to do the exact opposite of what you do. That was the situation we were put in. Alan (Gustafson) made the decision, we stuck with it, and it didn't work out." It was the second straight race ending in heartbreak for the 24-year-old driver, who crashed out of second place after a run-in with Kyle Busch last Wednesday at Darlington Raceway. Busch was among the first to approach him post-race, and Elliott said "he just felt bad for us." Elliott's bid for victory contention bloomed late in a race that was dominated early by Hendrick teammate Alex Bowman. He passed Keselowski on the 363rd lap of a scheduled 400 and stretched his advantage as the laps ticked down. Byron's skid to the apron erased that edge and forced a pit-strategy decision for overtime. No. 9 crew chief Alan Gustafson chose a four-tire stop, while Keselowski was the first driver among those who stayed on the track, handing him a lead he would not relinquish. "I remember the saying somebody told me when I was younger -- damned if you do, damned if you don't," Keselowski said of Elliott's pit-road fate. "It's just a tough spot to be in. I've been in that spot, I've lost races that way. It stinks. It hurts, but it comes the other way. It's taken a lot of years for it to come that way for me, and finally today it did."