Chase Elliott was so close to victory in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway with just two laps in the race. However, the final caution changed the scenario and Elliott could only finish third in the race.
Leading with two laps remaining in the Coca-Cola 600, Chase Elliott almost tasted his first victory of the 2020 series. However, his Hendrick Motorsports teammates William Byron spun out of the race, leading to a caution flag with just two laps in the race. Elliott’s crew decided for him to pit while Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski, who was in the second place, did not. This decision cost Elliott dearly as he resumed the race at 11th position.
He finished the race in the third position. However, the second-placed Jimmie Johnson’s car failed post-inspection, which meant that Elliott was regarded to have finished second in the race.
Regarding the decision made by the crew chief Alan Gustafson, Elliott said:
You just make the best decision you can based on the information you have. When you are leading the race like that, people behind you are going to do the exact opposite of what you do.
That was the situation we were put in. Al [Gustafson] made the decision, we stuck with it, and it didn’t work out.
The Coca-Cola 600 became the longest race in NASCAR’s history
The incident marks a very unfortunate week for Elliott as it is twice this week that Elliott went from an excellent chance of winning the race to finishing 38th and 2nd in those two races. However, he does not want to dwell on past incidents and would “try again” to win in the upcoming races.
Just try again. That’s all you can do. I mean, there is really no other option. I can’t rewind time. There’s no other choice.
This week’s been pretty unfortunate. We’ve had some tough losses in my career, for however many years I’ve been doing this, five, six years, unfortunately. It is what it is.