Chase Elliott has had such an awful week that Kyle Busch consoled him after Coca-Cola 600

Chase Elliott has had a rough week.

Chase Elliott has had a rough week. And just when it looked like NASCAR’s reigning most popular driver would win Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 and make up for the devastating finish he had Wednesday at Darlington Raceway, heartbreak struck again.

In fact, the last two races for the Hendrick Motorsports driver have been so crushing that Kyle Busch — a driver more famously known for his snark, sass or temper who had a little run-in with Elliott earlier this week — even comforted him when the iconic race was all over a little after midnight Monday.

So Elliott’s tumultuous week led to this rare moment between competitors on pit road. (They also briefly break NASCAR’s social distancing and PPE rules by standing next to each other and not wearing masks but will not be reprimanded, per FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass.)

To quickly recap, NASCAR’s redesigned COVID-19 schedule had the sport in two sets of back-to-back races at Darlington Raceway and Charlotte Motor Speedway. At Darlington on Wednesday, Elliott was running second late in the race when Busch made contact with him from behind and sent the No. 9 car spinning.

Elliott was furious, and after he got out of his car, he flipped Busch off. And to his credit, Busch owned up to it immediately, saying it was his mistake after he overestimated the size of the gap.

Fast forward to Sunday, and Elliott looked poised to win his first race of the season — and the first Coca-Cola 600 of his career. By about midnight, he was leading with just two laps remaining in the scheduled race distance when his teammate, William Byron, spun to bring out the caution flag and guarantee the race would go into overtime.

Enraged, he let off a series of NSFW words on his team’s radio.

In a no-win situation, Elliott was among those who then went to pit road. He could have tried the other side of the coin and stayed out, but there was no guarantee he’d have held onto his track position anyway off the restart.

On a Zoom call with reporters after the race, Elliott said:

“You just make the best decision you can based on the information you have. When you are leading the race like that, people behind you are going to do the exact opposite of what you do.”

Still, it was a brutal finish after coming oh-so-close to a win just days before that. When Elliott pitted, eight cars stayed out, including eventual race winner Brad Keselowski. Elliott ultimately finished third behind teammate Jimmie Johnson, who was later disqualified, bumping the No. 9 team up to second. Busch was moved up to fourth place.

Among curt and clearly frustrated answers, Elliott also summarized what Busch said to him after the race: “He just felt bad for us.”

You know you’ve had a decidedly challenging week when arguably NASCAR’s greatest villain, the guy you flipped off only a few days ago, is comforting you now on pit road.

Clearly, Elliott and his team have some speed to work with and can try to capitalize on it again in a couple days. The NASCAR Cup Series’ next race is Wednesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway at 8 p.m. ET on FS1, and it’s the sport’s fourth event back following a 10-week hiatus this spring because of the global coronavirus pandemic.

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