Chase Elliott couldn’t have had a worse start to the Round of 8 than he did in Sunday’s First Data 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
Elliott started the weekend on a sour note when he blew an engine early in Saturday’s practice session. He went out and qualified second but had to start at the rear of the field because of the engine change.
But Elliott quickly moved his way through the pack and had worked into the top 10 at one point.
But then during a pit stop Elliott suffered a broken axel. Although his team was able to make a repair, Elliott fell multiple laps down and ended up finishing 36th.
“Yeah, whatever that is worth. Frustrating,” Elliott said after the race. “Just disappointing for a day like that. We know better and we can do better than that.”
The finish dropped Elliott to the bottom of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff grid and he is 44 points below the cutline putting the Hendrick Motorsports driver into a likely must win situation at Texas and ISM Raceway over the next two weeks in order to advance to the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway to run for a title.
Elliott remains undaunted.
“I’m going to go win it,” he said. “That is certainly the case now. We do have to win.”
