[autotag]Chase Elliott[/autotag] entered overtime in second place during the NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway and had a chance at the victory. Elliott got a good jump on outside but couldn’t make it stick. Then, the Hendrick Motorsports driver nudged his teammate William Byron in Turn 3 with no luck. Elliott didn’t win the race and came home with a third-place finish.
Following the event, Elliott talked about his third-place finish and what this means to Hendrick Motorsports as the company celebrated its 40th anniversary on Sunday afternoon. It was disappointing to come up short, but he was still happy for the race team.
“Second or third, what does it matter?,” Elliott said, “Yeah, obviously number one, congrats to [William Byron] and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. Rick and Linda, all the folks, all the people that put this together for us. They have an unbelievable program. I think we’re all proud to call it home.It was awesome hosting over a thousand folks from Hendrick today, employees and their families.”
Chase Elliott wins Stage 1! #NASCAR #DAYTONA500 pic.twitter.com/Xz2udZdfK4
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 19, 2024
“Glad one of us could get it done. Obviously wish we could have got it done, selfishly like anybody would. Nice to have a couple solid weeks, to be in contention there for a win. Haven’t been in contention to win one in a while. It was fun to kind of get to that last restart and it actually mattered. Enjoyed that aspect. Certainly hungry for more.”
Elliott hasn’t won a Cup Series event since October 2022 at Talladega Superspeedway. The driver of the No. 9 car hasn’t been as quick since returning from his injury in the middle of the 2023 season; however, he is trending in the right direction. Elliott may have come up short at Martinsville, but he is close to breaking his winless streak.
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