Chase Elliott emerges as a title contender with Kansas win
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — It’s time to seriously start talking about Chase Elliott’s championship chances.
Elliott took the lead off the last set of pit stops Sunday at Kansas, drove away from the field and then held off Kyle Busch and drove away from him again to get his second victory in three races and his third win of the season.
“We had a great race there at the end,” Busch said. “We were trying to chase down Chase. We were close. Got kind of there, then just the car died out, didn’t have any more to go. I was afraid that was going to happen.”
Busch was second and Kyle Larson was third. Larson needed to win to advance to the third round. Larson, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, and Alex Bowman are the four drivers eliminated from the playoffs after Sunday’s race.
Elliott was already advanced to the third round of NASCAR’s playoffs thanks to his win two weeks ago at Dover. Sunday’s win was simply for more bonus points to carry over into the third round. After going winless for the first 98 races of his career, Elliott now has three victories in his last 11 races.
“You have to appreciate this stuff,” he said. “I know Dover was just a couple of weeks ago, but you just never know if or when you will ever get another one especially after the road to get here or get to Watkins Glen. It’s not easy so you have to enjoy them and can’t take it for granted.”
Those three wins have come on a road course, a one-mile oval and, now, a 1.5-mile track. That last type of track is the most important, at least when talking about the rest of the season. With races upcoming at Texas and Homestead, Elliott’s Kansas win is a statement that the team can be a serious threat for the championship.
You have to be fast at intermediate tracks to be a championship threat. And Elliott’s team is now fast. Crew chief Alan Gustafson said the team’s cars were “much better” now than they were earlier in the season, proof that what was evident in Elliott’s performance late in the race Sunday afternoon isn’t a fluke.
Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. combined to win 18 of the 26 races in the regular season. That was great for their playoff points standing, but that success hasn’t carried over through the first six races of the postseason. Only Busch, at Richmond on Sep. 22, has a postseason victory among them.
Busch, Harvick and Truex are still heavily favored to be among the four drivers racing for the title at Homestead because of that regular season success and the bonus points it provided. Elliott may not have all the points they do starting the third round at Martinsville, but he’s got a capable car and team.
“Well, I feel like we are amongst those guys that you have to beat and I think that is all you can ask for,” Elliott said. “We are getting better. I think we still have room to improve, but the last month or two has been way closer to where we need to be.”
Drivers advancing to the third round
1. Kyle Busch, 4,055 points
2. Kevin Harvick, 4,054
3. Martin Truex Jr., 4,038
4. Chase Elliott, 4,018
5. Clint Bowyer, 4,015
6. Joey Logano, 4,015
7. Kurt Busch, 4,015
8. Aric Almirola, 4,006
Race results
1. Chase Elliott
2. Kyle Busch
3. Kyle Larson
4. Erik Jones
5. Martin Truex
6. Brad Keselowski
7. Ryan Blaney
8. Joey Logano
9. Alex Bowman
10. Aric Almirola
11. Austin Dillon
12. Kevin Harvick
13. Clint Bowyer
14. Denny Hamlin
15. Ryan Newman
16. Chris Buescher
17. Jamie McMurray
18. Kurt Busch
19. David Ragan
20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
21. AJ Allmendinger
22. Jimmie Johnson
23. Matt DiBenedetto
24. Daniel Suarez
25. Ty Dillon
26. Bubba Wallace
27. Michael McDowell
28. Regan Smith
29. Landon Cassill
30. Trevor Bayne
31. JJ Yeley
32. Paul Menard
33. BJ McLeod
34. Corey LaJoie
35. Kyle Weatherman
36. Reed Sorenson
37. Jeffrey Earnhardt
38. William Byron
39. Ross Chastain
40. Timmy Hill
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
Follow @NickBromberg on Twitter
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