CONCORD, N.C. – Although he qualified fifth, Chase Elliott started Sunday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway at the rear of the field due to an unapproved tire change.
The setback didn’t stop the driver from posting his third top-five finish of the season – and second consecutive top-three result.
“It was a pretty wild afternoon,” Elliott said.
After falling outside of the top 20 to start the final segment, a quick, four-tire stop by the No. 9 team allowed Elliott to restart 19th with fewer than 30 laps to go.
From there, he gained 14 positions in just seven laps to re-enter the top five. He was running fifth with just two laps remaining and had his eye on moving forward.
“The last few laps, I was really trying to make a run and do something there at the end,” Elliott said. “Those guys were being awfully patient with one another. I was very surprised. I mean, it was more than obvious that they were not going to help me move forward.”
He worked to form an outside line to move closer to the leader, but he didn’t get the help or push he was hoping for.
Still, the driver didn’t give up on making a final sprint to the finish, and a move in the middle on the final lap allowed him to gain two additional spots to take the checkered flag in third.
“I tried to kind of break out of line and do a couple things there,” Elliott said. “Like I said, it was very obvious that nobody was going to help me. Even if I had just one other person to help, I felt like it would have made a big difference.”
Though wanting more, Elliott was pleased with No. 9 team’s performance following up last weekend’s runner-up result at Richmond, especially considering the challenges Talladega presented.
“We had a solid car,” he said. “I don’t think it was the best car today, but we had a good car. Our team did a nice job overcoming a little bit of damage there mid-portion of the race. (No. 9 crew chief) Alan Gustafson made a good call there towards the end to ultimately get us some track position and have a shot.”