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Chase Elliott‘s 2017 NAPA Auto Parts paint scheme for the No. 24 Chevrolet was revealed by the driver and Hendrick Motorsports on Tuesday.



The 2017 season will mark Elliott’s second season in the No. 24 car. This season he has the car that he took over from sure-fire Hall of Fame driver Jeff Gordon in the Round of 12 of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and looking to advance even further in the Chase.


Still pursuing his first win in the legendary ride, Elliott has accumulated nine top fives and 15 top 10s in his rookie Sprint Cup season. He ran well at Charlotte on Sunday leading 103 laps, but was collected in a pileup on a Lap 259 restart. 

RELATED: Elliott, Austin pick up pieces after big wreck at Charlotte

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RELATED: Full race results | Series standings | Chase Grid

CONCORD, N.C. – Talladega? A bigger crapshoot than Charlotte?

Might want to re-think that.

Given the strange nature of Sunday’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, it seems there is no safe haven for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup competitors this season. Trouble lurked around every turn of the 1.5-mile track.

For those that have said this year’s Chase has lacked any drama, this one churned it out in spades.

Five of the 12 Chase drivers limped out of CMS licking their wounds after finishes of 30th or worse. Kevin Harvick finished 38th, sidelined by the most unfortunate of circumstances. It wasn’t driver error or a mistake by the pit crew. Instead it was parts breakage that silenced the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet.


RELATED: Every lap matters, and drivers say this Chase has been intense

Joey Logano played tag with the outside wall and lost. He finished 36th.

Chase Elliott and Austin Dillon were top-five contenders until a Lap 259 restart bottled up the field and sent both young drivers ricocheting off anything that was moving and some things that were not.

Denny Hamlin seems to be able to find new ways to fall out of contention – this one, much like Harvick’s, was out of his control. Parts breakage sent a plume of smoke from underneath the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with less than 30 laps remaining and while Hamlin was running second.

“It’s just my time and it’s usually Chase time when I have these things happen,” Hamlin lamented. He was not alone in his disappointment.

Even those who fared much better had to overcome their share of obstacles on a bright, sunny day at Charlotte.

Race runner-up Matt Kenseth was scheduled to start 17th; instead, pre-race issues with his No. 20 Toyota sent the 2003 champ to the rear before the first lap had been run. He was working his way through the field when a pit-road penalty sent Kenseth to the rear a second time.


RELATED: Driver grades for Charlotte

Teammate Kyle Busch had a tire problem at Lap 90 and lost a lap. He made it up but then scrubbed the wall. More damage followed. Somehow, he and his No. 18 team battled back to finish sixth.

“It was fast,” Busch said of his Toyota. “It had speed even after we were crashed; we just needed to be in clean air.”

Carl Edwards? He finished 12th even though exhaust issues led to an exhausting day.

Martin Truex Jr., winner of two races in the Round of 16 and unbelievably dominant here in May (leading all but eight laps in the 400-lap Coca-Cola 600), went from third to 16th during the eighth and final caution of the race when the clutch in his Furniture Row Racing entry decided to balk while on pit road.

That he still managed a 13th-place finish was a stroke of good fortune.

Nearly every Chase driver has spoken of the importance of Charlotte and Kansas, where getting a win, or at the very least solid finishes, would provide a bit of breathing room when the series heads to Talladega.

But as Harvick correctly noted earlier this week, trouble can strike anywhere. That certainly was the case here Sunday.

“Definitely this seems like it has been a troublesome day for a lot of guys,” Elliott, who led three times for 103 laps, said. “Hopefully we can just try to have another car like we had today and not make any mistakes next week.”


WATCH: Elliott, Dillon talk about day-ending wreck at Charlotte

It’s a bit of optimism and confidence shared by many hoping to advance on to the next round.

Only race winner Jimmie Johnson departed Sunday feeling fit as a fiddle, his move into the Round of 8 already guaranteed.

“It lets me go to Talladega and not worry about anything,” the six-time champion said, “which is fantastic.”

Others can only imagine the feeling.

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Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Charlotte produced a record number of over-the-wall-too-early penalties, according to calculations by PitTalks.com. A typical race has one or two of these penalties, but Charlotte had seven.  

Why so many?

First, it was a rain-delayed race and the start time was different than usual. Many athletes are creatures of habit and value their routine. Breaking routine could have contributed in a small way.

Another idea is that Charlotte is the home track for most of the crew men. Staying focused is much harder at the home track when there are family obligations to attend to during race week.

Another more scientific answer could be that Charlotte has some of the smaller pit stalls for 1.5-mile tracks. Cars get up to crew members more quickly. Timing the jump as close as possible is important, and the different size could have thrown off some teams.

Last but not least is the idea that it was just a bad day. Sounds funny, but it could be that all the stars lined up and it just happened.

Whatever the reason, a lot of good teams were busted. Out of the seven teams with penalties, three of them were Chase contenders (Nos. 2, 18, and 20). All three of those teams rebounded from their pit-road miscues to record top-10 finishes and remained in the thick of the Chase race.

For more pit crew news, got to PitTalks.com.

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RELATED: Full race results | Series standings | Chase Grid

Breaking down the full field for the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway:

1. Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Huge win for Johnson … even when it’s the 78th of your Sprint Cup career and you have six championships. Johnson led a race-high 155 laps and moved into the Round of 8 of the Chase for the first time under the current format. Grade: A+

2. Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Kenseth started in the rear of the field because of prerace adjustments to his car … was penalized for too many men over the wall … and still finished in the top five. On a day when five Chasers were body slammed by big issues, Kenseth’s second place was almost as big as Johnson’s win. Grade: A

3. Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Kahne posted his best finish since his last win — in August 2014 at Atlanta. Grade: A

4. Ryan Newman, No. 31 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Great run for Newman, who snagged his second top-five finish of the season. Grade: A

5. Kyle Larson, No. 42 Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. Larson’s eighth top-five finish ties his career best, set in his rookie season two years ago. Grade: A

6. Kyle Busch, No. 18 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Despite an early tire issue that put him a lap down and damage sustained in the big wreck on Lap 259, Busch came away with a big top 10. Grade: A

7. Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Ford, Team Penske. The No. 2 was one of many teams penalized for having its crew over the wall too soon, but Keselowski prevailed in the end, grabbing his 105th top 10 since the start of the 2012 season, tying Kevin Harvick for the most top 10s over the past five years. Grade: A

8. Kurt Busch, No. 41 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. When Busch was told which Chase cars were caught up in the big wreck on Lap 259, he said, “Charlotte has turned into Talladega.” Nice line. Even better was his finish on a day he didn’t have one of his stronger cars. Grade: A

9. Tony Stewart, No. 14 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. As you’ll see, attrition was the friend to many drivers Sunday, including Stewart, who was tagged for speeding during a green-flag pit stop on Lap 114. His 17.6 averaging running position was easily the highest among the top-10 finishers. Grade: A

10. Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. Solid day for McMurray, who sustained left front damage in the big wreck on Lap 259. His 325 laps in the top 15 were behind only Jimmie Johnson (332) and Carl Edwards (327). Grade: A

11. Danica Patrick, No. 10 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Patrick’s finish is her best since her last top 10, a ninth-place finish at Bristol in April 2015. Grade: B+

12. Carl Edwards, No. 19 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Although Edwards never challenged for the lead, his 8.4 average running position was third-best, trailing only Jimmie Johnson (3.4) and JGR teammate Denny Hamlin (6.4). Grade: B+

13. Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Toyota, Furniture Row Racing. Truex touched off the big wreck on the restart on Lap 259 when he got into the back of Austin Dillon — who restarted second — and sent him spinning and crashing hard into the inside wall. Truex said he was “trying to give him a shove and I just turned him completely around like a damn idiot.” Truex was contrite after the race, as well, but the damage was done. On the flip side … during a yellow-flag pit stop on Lap 311, karma made an appearance in the No. 78 pits when Truex’s clutch failed and he had trouble leaving his stall. He had been running third; he restarted 16th. Grade: D

14. Michael McDowell, No. 95 Chevrolet, Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing. Hats off to McDowell, who posted the fifth-best finish of his Sprint Cup career (207 starts). Grade: A

15. Aric Almirola, No. 43 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports. Almirola just missed getting tagged by Austin Dillon as Dillon’s car spun back onto the track after smashing nose-first into the inside wall on Lap 259. Almirola, who is still looking for his first top 10 of the season, posted his sixth top-15 finish of 2016. Grade: B

16. Chris Buescher, No. 34 Ford, Front Row Motorsports. In his 36th career start, Buescher registered his fourth-best finish. Grade: B+

17. Clint Bowyer, No. 15 Chevrolet, HScott Motorsports. Bowyer took home his best finish since his most-recent top 10, three months ago at Daytona. Grade: B

18. Trevor Bayne, No. 6 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Despite his top-20 finish, Bayne wasn’t exactly competitive Sunday: Of the drivers who finished in the top 20, he ran the fewest laps in the top 15 — one. Grade B-

19. Landon Cassill, No. 38 Ford, Front Row Motorsports. Six of Cassill’s 24 career top-20 finishes have come this season, one fewer than his career-best seven in 2012. Grade: A

20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Stenhouse has made more starts at Charlotte, 10, than at any other Sprint Cup track but is still looking for his first top-10 finish. He about nailed his average finish of 20.8, though. Grade: C

21. Regan Smith, No. 7 Chevrolet, Tommy Baldwin Racing. Speaking of average finishes at Charlotte, Smith ran to form, as 20.7 is Smith’s number. Grade: B

22. Brian Scott, No. 44 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports. Scott posted his best finish at Charlotte in four starts. Grade: B

23. David Ragan, No. 23 Toyota, BK Racing. Ragan registered his best finish at Charlotte since he finished 11th five years ago in his final Charlotte start for Jack Roush. Grade: B

24. Michael Annett, No. 46 Chevrolet, HScott Motorsports. Making his 100th career Sprint Cup start, Annett posted his second-best finish of the season. Grade: B

25. Matt DiBenedetto, No. 83 Toyota, BK Racing. DiBenedetto’s finish was his fourth best of the season. Grade: B

26. Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 32 Ford, Go Fas Racing. Earnhardt posted the best finish of his career (19 starts). Grade: A-

27. Cole Whitt, No. 98 Chevrolet, Premium Motorsports. Whitt posted one of his best finishes of the season to help Premium Motorsports put both of its cars in the top 30 for the first time since Kentucky in July. Grade: B-

28. Reed Sorenson, No. 55 Chevrolet, Premium Motorsports. Ditto. See Whitt. Grade: B-

29. Josh Wise, No. 30 Chevrolet, The Motorsports Group. Our attrition theme that began with Tony Stewart ends here with Wise, who has posted only three better finishes all season. Grade: C

30. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Hamlin was running second with fewer than 30 laps to go when his engine blew up with “no warning” (Hamlin’s words). It also was a massive break for the four Chase drivers — Austin Dillon, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick — who finished below Hamlin. If Hamlin had finished in the top five — or simply ahead of Martin Truex Jr. — the four would have been 19 to 24 points behind Truex (assuming Truex still finished 13th) for the final spot to advance to the next round. Instead, the four range from three to eight points behind Hamlin for the eighth spot. That’s a huge difference. Grade: D

31. Ryan Blaney, No. 21 Ford, Wood Brothers Racing. Blaney had been competitive most of the afternoon before he was collected in the Lap 259 mess when he ran into Chase Elliott who had spun and was facing the wrong direction against the outside wall. Grade: C

32. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. The No. 3 team’s decision to take two tires – when the rest of the top cars took four — might have factored into the multi-car wreck that ensued after Dillon picked up nine spots to restart second on Lap 259. But it’s not as if he spun his tires, had a poor restart and stacked up the field. This mess belonged to Martin Truex Jr. The team’s troubles on his first two pit stops that played into his inferior track position, however, did not. Grade: C-

33. Chase Elliott, No. 24 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Say all you want about Elliott’s decision to slow as he reached the end of pit road, which ultimately lined him up on the inside of the third row behind Austin Dillon and Martin Truex Jr. and resulted in him being collected in the ensuing Lap 259 melee. But it doesn’t change two facts: Elliott had led a race-high 103 laps to that point, and Truex, not  Elliott, ignited the wreck. Elliott was among the drivers who deserved better. Grade: B

34. Paul Menard, No. 27 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Menard was one of two drivers who ran into Chase Elliott‘s turned-around car in the Lap 259 carnage. Unfortunately for Menard, his car didn’t survive the impact. Grade: C-

35. Greg Biffle, No. 16 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Tire issues, a pit-road speeding penalty and contact with the wall all preceded the No. 16’s demise in the big wreck. Grade: F

36. Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford, Team Penske. Tire troubles sent the No. 22 into the wall on two separate occasions (bringing out the third and fourth cautions). He was running 16th when it happened the second time, and the damage forced a trip to the garage. Logano was 78 laps back when he returned to the track, and he was able to improve his finish by one spot. We’ll know if that one point is a difference-maker after Talladega. Grade: F

37. AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Chevrolet, JTG Daugherty Racing. The No. 47 was racy with the new Richard Childress Racing chassis, but he hit the wall hard on Lap 254, and that ended his day. Grade: D

38. Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Harvick was running fourth on Lap 154 when the No. 4 abruptly lost power. An oil pump bearing was the culprit. Harvick never returned. He has finished 37th and 38th the past two races, the first time he has posted back-to-back finishes in the 30s in more than two years. Grade: F

39. Alex Bowman, No. 88 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Bowman was running third on Lap 62 when the No. 88 cut a tire, ran up the race track, hit the wall and collected Casey Mears. The DNF marked Bowman’s worst finish in his fifth race in relief of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Grade: F

40. Casey Mears, No. 13 Chevrolet, Germain Racing. Mears was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time when Alex Bowman ran up the track after cutting a tire. Grade: U (for Unfortunate)

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RELATED: Tire dragon goes to work at Kentucky

Kentucky Speedway announced Monday that it will add another surface layer of asphalt to the 1.5-mile track this month.


The Bluegrass State circuit underwent a full reconfiguration earlier this year that included a increased banking in Turns 1 and 2, improved drainage, additional energy-absorbing SAFER barrier and a total repave. The work was completed ahead of a tripleheader NASCAR weekend for all three national series July 7-9.


“When our team examined the race track, portions of the paving performed earlier this year did not meet the construction specifications,” Kentucky Speedway general manager Mark Simendinger said in a release provided by the track. “These deficiencies had no impact on this year’s racing and would affect only the long-term viability of the surface if left uncorrected. In order to remedy these issues, an additional surface course of asphalt will be applied. The track will cure over the winter and be fully in use in the spring.”


The speedway indicated that all work would be complete in October. The track hosts two NASCAR weekends on the 2017 schedule, the first for all three national series July 6-8 and a return trip for the XFINITY Series in September.

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RELATED: Recap of Jimmie’s wins | Recap all of Dale Sr.’s wins

Jimmie Johnson just got the biggest endorsement in NASCAR: from Dale Earnhardt Jr.

“To be honest, yes I am rooting for Jimmie to get this championship,” Junior said in “The Dale Jr. Download” posted on Dirty Mo Radio Monday afternoon, which coincidentally was Earnhardt’s 42nd birthday. “I believe he does deserve it after everything he has put into the sport.”


A seventh championship for Johnson, a Hendrick Motorsports teammate of Junior, would tie the No. 48 driver with Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty for the most championships ever won by a driver.


“I’m real excited for Jimmie,” Junior said. “He’s chasing that seventh championship to put him up there with Richard and my father. He wants that so badly. We’ve had a few conversations about that, and I know how much that would mean to him.


“He is one of the greatest drivers this sport has seen. Obviously to win five championships in a row is undeniable, and the arguments are undeniable that he is one of the greatest. He ranks right up there with the old man and anyone else you want to bring into that conversation.”


In February, Johnson got his 76th career premier series race victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway, tying Dale Earnhardt for seventh on the all-time wins list.


Junior, who finished second to his teammate that day said, “Knowing Jimmie Johnson and the way he operates, Dad would have loved Jimmie. How can you not like Jimmie? He’s just a good guy who never stepped over the line with anything he’s ever said or anything he’s ever did.”


Johnson got his 77th win, passing Earnhardt’s record, three weeks later at Fontana. He now has three wins on the season and is locked into the Round of 8 in the Chase for the Sprint Cup with his Charlotte victory.


For this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Junior predicts that the No. 24 of Chase Elliott, another Hendrick teammate, will make it to the Round of 8 as well despite a rough day at Charlotte. He led 103 laps but finished 33rd after winding up in a wreck just after a Lap 259 restart with fellow Chase driver Austin Dillon and several others.


All the Hendrick cars looked good at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Junior said. The No. 88 was piloted by Alex Bowman, who wrecked early and finished 39th in the Bank of America 500. Earnhardt said he plans to attend all of the remaining 2016 Sprint Cup races except Phoenix.


“I knew and said many times during the summer that I knew when the Chase came around we would rebound and be strong,” Junior said in the podcast. “And we have. It makes me excited to get back in the car when I do.”

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Ryan Newman and Richard Childress Racing announced Monday that they had agreed on a multi-year contract extension to keep the veteran in the No. 31 Chevrolet.

 

Newman is wrapping up his third full-time season with Childress, and he’s notched 12 top-five finishes — including a fourth-place effort Sunday at Charlotte — and 40 top-10s during that time span.

“Ryan’s consistency on the track has been a benefit to our organization and this extension solidifies the future of our racing program,” said Richard Childress, Chairman and CEO of RCR. “Ryan proved the first year he was here that we could contend for championships and with this continuation, I believe we can fulfill our commitment to winning races and a championship. Ryan has worked hard to represent many of our partners, especially the primary sponsors Caterpillar, Grainger and WIX Filters, helping them to get the most out of their respective racing programs.”

 

While Newman and Childress have not won together, the driver advanced to the Championship 4 in 2014 and raced Kevin Harvick for the win — and championship — in the closing laps before finishing second.

 

“I am pleased to continue driving for Richard Childress Racing,” said Newman. “Our goal to win a championship all but turned into a reality during our first year together. I feel like since then, we have some unfinished business to complete. I’m fortunate to have forged a great relationship with my crew chief Luke Lambert, and I very much want to not only help him reach our goal of winning a Cup championship but also getting him his first Cup victory.”

 

RCR’s three-team lineup also includes Austin Dillon in the No. 3 and Paul Menard in the No. 27.

 

Newman’s return likely means Ty Dillon will not drive full time for the Richard Childress Racing contingent in 2017. Previously, Ty Dillon said he planned on being in the Sprint Cup Series full time in 2017.

 

“We’ve got a lot of options on the table,” Dillon said in July at Iowa Speedway. ” … I had talks with other teams in the past couple years and had opportunities, but it’s always been my dream to drive for RCR and be teammates with my brother.”

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RELATED: Harvick on his day | Logano on his troubles | Results | Chase Grid


CONCORD, N.C. — Joey Logano picked up a single point, and only time will tell if that seemingly insignificant amount will make any difference as drivers in the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup regroup and prepare to head to Kansas Speedway (Oct. 16, 2:15 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) next weekend.

The Team Penske driver spent approximately 80 laps in the garage after bouncing off the wall a second time during Sunday’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

His team, led by crew chief Todd Gordon, made repairs as best they could, then sent Logano back out onto the track in the scarred yellow No. 22 Ford. That helped him gain one more point, for a total of six in the race.

Kevin Harvick got no such second chance. Electrical issues had surfaced on the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet just before Logano crashed into the wall a second time.

There was no repairing the internal breakage for Harvick, and the 2014 series champion bowed out after 155 laps of the 334-lap event, 38th in the 40-car field.

“We’re not out by any means,” said Logano, who swept all three races in the Round of 12 a year ago. “We had a very fast car. … It was capable of winning.

“Things happen. It’s part of racing, but we’re not out.”

Logano finished 36th, one spot ahead of AJ Allmendinger whose No. 47 Chevrolet was silenced a bit later. One position and one point may not make a difference in the next two races of this round. Then again, as strange as Sunday’s race — which was postponed one day due to Hurricane Matthew — turned out to be, why take a chance?

A year ago, Logano won all three Chase races in the second round. Now, the No. 22 team will regroup and focus on Kansas and, beyond that, Talladega.

“We’re still fighting,” Logano said. “We’ve got a really good race team and we can go to Kansas and win. These two race tracks, Charlotte and Kansas, are our best ones and we proved last year that we can do it and we’ll just have to do it again.”

Harvick led once for 12 laps at CMS after starting on the pole. While he fell off the lead lap once when a round of green-flag pit stops were interrupted by a caution, he was able to get his lap back when Logano tagged the wall for the first time on Lap 117.

Barely 30 laps later, the No. 4 Chevrolet slowed and Harvick headed to the garage, done for the day.

It was the third DNF for the team this season.

“I thought it was a power issue,” he said, “so I cycled through everything. By the time I figured out what happened it just shut off. It looks like low oil pressure.

“I hate it for everybody … they made some great adjustments today and got our car back where we needed to be to run up front and everything was going fine.”

Logano (3,006) and Harvick (3,004) departed CMS 11th and 12th in the Chase standings, respectively. Only the top eight will advance to the next round.

Because other Chase drivers had problems of their own, the two find themselves just six (Logano) and eight (Harvick) behind eighth-place Denny Hamlin (3,012).

Austin Dillon and Chase Elliott also had trouble — both were involved in a late-race crash on a restart — and are ninth and 10th in points.


READ: Elliott, Dillon involved in big wreck


“Lots of things can go wrong,” Harvick said, “and today they did.”


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RELATED: Updated Chase Grid | Race results


CONCORD, N.C. — One point.


One point separated Ty Dillon from Darrell Wallace Jr. in the Chase Grid after Sunday’s elimination race at Charlotte Motor Speedway that dwindled the field of 12 to eight drivers.


And with one point, Dillon’s 2016 championship run came to a sorrowful end.


“Man, it’s heartbreaking,” an emotional Dillon said after the race. “We’re a team that should have been in the final round and you’ve got to expect things to happen, which happened in the first race at Kentucky. That’s the way this Chase is built. Things happen, some of the best cars are going to get knocked out. But you’ve got to be able to rebound if you’re going to win a championship and we weren’t able to rebound good enough.”


The Chase bubble fluctuated throughout the 300-mile event, as initial problems for Wallace & Co. set the No. 6 back in the field and on the Chase Grid. But Dillon’s crash that resulted in a 27th-place finish in the opening Chase race at Kentucky Speedway two weeks ago put the No. 3 camp in an upward battle that needed an especially strong run at Charlotte.


And despite posting a runner-up result last week at Dover, Dillon’s 11th-place finish Sunday didn’t cut it, as he struggled to pass 10th-place Ryan Sieg on older tires for that one point he needed to advance.


“We had so much momentum coming off Dover,” Dillon said. “Had a car capable of winning a race and today we couldn’t even stay on the lead lap, so it’s just very upsetting.


“… I’ve wanted this championship so bad every year I’ve ran the XFINITY Series. Just, it hurts.”


As the checkered flag waved as the sun set in North Carolina, Wallace Jr. was on the other side of the Chase bubble, his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford advancing with a 20th-place result. But after battling a torn-up nose, pit road penalty and free-handling race car in the day time, Wallace was less than thrilled about his performance.


“We don’t deserve to be in the Chase,” Wallace said on pit road after the race. “Just bummed we couldn’t have a better showing for Leidos, especially at our home track. … When we race during the day, no matter what track we go to, we are all over the place. But here when nightfall came about, they were telling me to be conservative, but I felt like I could have drove up there to the lead, how much different the car was and how much better it drove.


“We’re missing something … I don’t know what … we’ve got going on for daytime stuff, but it’s just a bummer — yeah, cool we made it to the next round. But who the hell is happy about the way we ran?”


Despite the messy run, Wallace expressed gratitude for his advancement to the next round, a chance to improve upon the team’s daytime racing program.


“My team never gave up and I never gave up,” Wallace said. “Never got too pissed off, too frustrated, never put her in the fence. (Ran) up there in the top, I was trying to get it all I could to keep us going … We’ve just got to get better. I don’t like running 20th.”


Wallace will move on to Kansas next week to vie for the XFINITY Series championship, along with Elliott Sadler, Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones, Justin Allgaier, Blake Koch, Brendan Gaughan and Ryan Reed.


Brennan Poole — who was forced to change the battery midway through the race in his No. 48 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Chevrolet — Brandon Jones, Sieg and Dillon were the four drivers eliminated in the opening round of the inaugural XFINITY Series Chase.


For No. 3 crew chief Nick Harrison, these final four races are about redemption, finishing a disappointing Chase on a high note.


“Just one of those deals — you’ve just got to hold your head up and move on to the next race,” Harrison told NASCAR.com in the garage.  “It’s racing and (you’ve) gotta be a big boy — we weren’t good enough to advance, we had ourselves in a hole at Kentucky. Just didn’t make it.


“… The only way to have a little satisfaction of a season is to go out there and win some of these races and that’s definitely what we’re going to do — there will be no give-up here.”