Chase Elliott’s hunt for a 2023 NASCAR Cup Series victory continues after coming up one spot short Sunday in Indianapolis to Michael McDowell.
The Hendrick driver felt he had a solid No. 9 Chevrolet, but not enough to erase a gap of over 3s in the final stint. On the final green flag pit stop, Elliott cycled to second when Daniel Suarez had an issue and was initially able to make up ground on McDowell. The gap only ever got down to just under one second when McDowell led Elliott across the finish line.
“[I] just needed to do a little better job,” Elliott said. “Michael did an outstanding job getting through traffic, and I didn’t. [I] gained a lot of time on him those last couple of laps, just not quite enough.”
Sunday had one natural caution, and Elliott kept in mind the need to pace himself over a long green flag run. But he ended up losing too much time on the pit cycle even though he gained a spot.
It was one of the strongest race weekends Elliott has had in recent weeks. He qualified third and finished third in the first stage, earning more points with a fifth-place effort in the second stage.
“We had a fast NAPA Chevy, so it’s always good to have pace,” Elliott said. “We just needed a little bit more.”
Elliott remains below the NASCAR Cup Series playoff grid cutline, sitting 80 points out of a transfer spot with two races remaining in the regular season. The easiest and most realistic way for the 2020 series champion to make the postseason is through a victory.
Watkins Glen, where the series visits next, was the site of Elliott’s first victory in the Cup Series in 2018. He also won at The Glen in 2019 and finished fourth in the race there last season after starting from the pole.
“We got a shot at it,” he said.