For the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports team, things in Atlanta went well. It wasn’t a headline afternoon, but a solid performance. Another top-10 performance on the season, Chase Elliott is doing exactly what he has to do to advance in the NASCAR Playoffs.
If you aren’t able to win the race, picking up stage points and finishing P8 will usually be enough to get you to the next round. The Round of 16 is the time to build up playoff points and build momentum.
Right now, Chase Elliott has good momentum as the Cup Series goes to Watkins Glen. He could very well win next Sunday.
After his day racing in his home state, Elliott spoke to Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports about his thoughts.
“I think we did our job today, can’t speak for the next two weeks,” Elliott said. “Thought we had a solid day overall and stayed out of most of the mess, got a couple stage points, and got a solid finish. So, I don’t have anything to be upset about.”
There was a moment where Elliott was taken three-wide on pit road. Corey LaJoie made contact with him. But that didn’t bother Elliott’s car that much.
“I don’t think it impacted how it drove, not under these circumstances. I think we got pretty lucky on that.”
He tried to explain what happened, but it was hard to tell. LaJoie took it three-wide on a narrow pit road.
“I guess, it was so hard for me to tell,” Elliott continued. “I was coming out, there was someone to my outside and then the 7 jumped out and I think there was someone… it’s always hard to see if there’s anyone to their left but certainly, the 7 made it three-wide and it’s extremely narrow.”
Chase Elliott is in a good position right now. He is more than 20 points above the cutline. That will buy him about one major mistake in the Round of 16 now. Again, with Watkins Glen and Bristol on the schedule, it should be a solid round for Elliott and his team.
Atlanta was the biggest question mark of the round. Elliott and his team made it out on the other side unscathed. That is an accomplishment in itself. Joey Logano went on to win and punched his ticket to the Round of 12. But that is just one spot.
Hendrick Motorsports had a solid day overall. Kyle Larson was involved in a Stage 1 wreck that took him out. His car snapped to the right and he was in the wall before you knew it. He took a big hit in points as well as Chase Briscoe.
