Chase Elliott breaks down impressive day at Martinsville after P3 finish
Chase Elliott came oh so close to snapping a now 42-race winless streak in Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway — on the 40th anniversary of Hendrick Motorsports no less.
A Hendrick Motorsports driver did cross the checkered line as the winner, but it wasn’t Elliott. It was William Byron, with Kyle Larson and Elliott following in second and third, respectively. After a close call at Martinsville, Elliott caught up with Regan Smith of FOX Sports after the race.
“Obviously No. 1 — congrats to William and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports — Rick and Linda and all the folks. … all the people that put this together for us. They have an unbelievable program and I think we’re all proud to call a home,” Elliott said. “It was awesome hosting over 1,000 folks from Hendrick today and employees and their families. So, glad one of us could get it done. Obviously wish that we could have got it done selfishly like anybody else would but nice to have a couple solid weeks and to be in contention for a win is, you know, haven’t been in contention to win in a while.”
Chase Elliott battles Hendrick Motorsports teammates for win at Martinsville
Elliott started in the P2 position for the final restart, next to Byron. For those final laps, Elliott did everything he could to get around his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, but got sideways at one point, losing a spot to Larson. Instead of finding his way to victory lane, Elliott had to settle for third. A P3 finish makes it back-to-back top 5s for Elliott, the 2020 Cup Series champion.
“So, it was fun to get to that last restart and it actually matter,” Elliott said. “Enjoyed that aspect and certainly hungry for more. … Throughout a lot of the season this year, we’ve just been working in a good direction, working well together. Pit stops have been really good, Alan [Gustafson] has been calling really good races. I mean, all of that stuff has been going in a really positive direction in my opinion. I think that if we can just keep producing that, we’ll get ours one day.”