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BROOKLYN, Mich. — Unable to park his No. 24 in Victory Lane for the first time in his young career, Chase Elliott stood on pit road Sunday at Michigan International Speedway visibly disappointed as he was comforted by the man who won three premier series championships in the very same Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Jeff Gordon.
“We just talked about the race a little bit,” the dejected Elliott said of his conversation with Gordon. “And some of the things we battled and just looking at the positives, I guess, and trying to get down the road.”
The Pure Michigan 400 was a familiar scene at the 2-mile track for the Sunoco Rookie of the Year Candidate, who walked away with a dominant car but earned a less-than-satisfying runner-up finish. During the June stop at MIS, Elliott led for 35 circuits but finished second, behind Joey Logano.
Elliott battled 1-2 at the second Michigan stop with eventual race winner Kyle Larson, even leading 31 of 200 laps, but watched the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet take the lead following a Lap 191 restart; Larson never let go.
“Once that guy (Larson) got out front, it was really hard to pass,” Elliott said of the restart. “My guys did such a good job today of making the most of pit road. That was the only place you could make a large sum of ground in a short period of time. They did exactly what I asked them to do. I said, ‘You guys are going to have to bail me out here, I messed up.’ (And) they did. They got us the lead just like I asked and I gave it away again.”
Alan Gustafson, crew chief of the No. 24 team, saw other issues during the day’s final restart.
“(It’s) just a huge factor getting into Turn 1,” Gustafson explained while decompressing with the team, sans Elliott, in the garage area. “It’s the push, obviously. The guys in (the) second row were pushing really hard and the 2 (of third-place finisher, Brad Keselowski) and 42 (of Larson) did a little better than the 24 and the 21 (of Ryan Blaney, fourth).”
The 20-year-old clocked in his seventh top-five finish and his first since the season’s first race at the Irish Hills, breaking a stretch of nine consecutive results outside not only the top five, but the top 10.
Elliott now sits 11th in standings — six points ahead of Austin Dillon — and 14th on 16-spot Chase Grid, the highest for anyone in the 2016 rookie class.
The Sprint Cup Series field heads to Darlington Raceway for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 (Sept. 4, 6 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and Elliott only wishes for one thing.
“Hopefully another fast car (which) is all you can ask for,” he said. “Just trying to hunker down and keep everybody’s head up.”
And Gustaftson promises, “We’re gonna do everything we can to do that.”
