Chase Elliott had his most promising run of the season at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, coming within half a second of the win in a race that went down to the wire. Though he never led a lap, Elliott went from 15th and crossed the line just 0.502 seconds behind Denny Hamlin, who won his first race of the year.
While Hamlin celebrated with family after claiming the Pennzoil 400, Elliott was left to replay the closing laps in his mind, knowing he had come within striking distance yet ran out of road before he could make a move for the lead.
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The No. 9 Chevrolet driver kept himself in the mix throughout the race. He wrapped up Stage 1 in eighth place and followed it with a ninth-place finish in Stage 2. As the laps wound down, by Lap 242, he had climbed to second place behind Hamlin and began chipping away at the gap. At one point, Elliott sat around 1.6 seconds behind the No. 11 car, but lap by lap, he reeled Hamlin in until the margin shrank to roughly half a second.
Despite the late charge, Hamlin held serve and carried that edge to the checkered flag. Looking back on the final stretch, Elliott said the team kept digging even after a hiccup earlier in the race.
“I just kind of kept fighting before we had one bad pit stop there and fell back in the second stage. And then, yeah, I thought those last couple runs, honestly, we got our balance really good. I thought I fired off well, and our car held on good, too.”
“So, obviously, room for improvement, but I thought it was a good start for, you know, this new package for us.” Elliott also noted that the car came alive as the run went on, giving him hope that he could close the deal if the laps played out right.
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“It was definitely better there towards the end than we had started the run. I thought there might be an opportunity. I knew that he was starting to get tight there at the end of runs. As bummed as I am to come up that close to a win, I have to kind of bring myself back to a reality check, how much better we ran today than we’ve been running,” he added.
The #9 driver said he could see Hamlin wrestling with grip late in the run, while the Hendrick Motorsports driver hugged the line with ease. Elliott believed that the advantage might open the door for a pass, yet he never closed the gap enough to throw a move into the corner.
In the end, the margin between a win and second place proved thin, as Elliott admitted he wished he had been tidier during the final laps while riding the line near the wall.
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