Chase Elliott gladly took a top-five finish from Sunday’s race at Sonoma Raceway, even though the call to stay out under the final caution didn’t net a race win.
The No. 9 inherited the race lead when most of the leaders pitted under the caution with 19 laps to go. It was a great track position for Elliott, who wasn’t running inside the top 10 when the caution came out for Denny Hamlin crashing on the frontstretch.
But the lead was short-lived as Martin Truex Jr. passed Elliott with 14 laps to go, one lap after the race resumed and the HMS driver faded to a fifth-place finish.
“It’s nice to get a top-five, no doubt, so proud of that,” Elliott said. “We were trying to do something a little different with strategy. We had pit about six or eight laps there before that caution. We just felt like our only play was to stay out.
“I was really hoping that more people would do that with us so we’d have three or four rows. It still probably wouldn’t have been enough, but I do think it would have been nicer to have a couple more rows and a buffer for those with tires.”
Sunday was Elliott’s return to NASCAR Cup Series action after having to serve a one-race suspension for hooking Hamlin in the right rear during the Coca-Cola 600 last month. Elliott led seven laps in the Toyota/Save Mart 350.
“It was certainly a good fight for the No. 9 NAPA Chevy team,” he said. “It was one of our better runs there in the last couple of races, so always good to finish strong. It wasn’t an ideal situation, so to kind of fight through it there and come home with a top-five is good. Looking forward to build on that and hopefully contend for a win before long.”
Elliott is 27th in the championship standings with 10 races remaining in the regular season.