Elliott Earns Top-10 Finish in Kansas Playoff Race

• Chase Elliott started Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race at Kansas Speedway from the rear of the field after a mechanical issue discovered on Saturday forced the No. 9 UniFirst team to change engines.
• The 28-year-old driver rallied to a 19th place finish in stage one before moving into the top 10 to finish stage two in ninth.
• In the final stage, after a late race caution, Elliott restarted 13th with 20 laps to go and powered his way to a ninth-place finish.
• Elliott leaves Kansas seventh in the Cup Series Playoff standings, four points above the elimination line with two races remaining in the Round of 12.

Chase Elliott and the No. 9 team’s weekend got off to a tough start when Elliott felt something amiss with his No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 during NASCAR Cup Series practice at Kansas Speedway. Unfortunately, a mechanical issue forced the team to change engines following qualifying. Elliott began the Cup Series Playoff race from the rear of the field but was undeterred by the challenging starting position. He was already up to 29th on lap one when the first caution of the race came out. After restarting from the same position on lap seven, he continued his climb forward, reaching 22nd before another yellow flag was displayed on lap 20. Crew chief Alan Gustafson called Elliott to pit road for four tires, fuel and an air-pressure adjustment. Unfortunately, the driver of the No. 9 was delayed in leaving the pit stall after getting blocked in, causing him to lose positions. Elliott restarted 30th on lap 25 and made quick work of the cars ahead of him. He entered the top 20 for the first time on lap 37 and reached as high as 19th, where he ultimately finished stage one on lap 80.

The 2020 Cup Series champion reported that he overbuilt the right rear during the run, so the team made adjustments to the UniFirst Chevrolet during its four-tire pit stop under the stage break. Elliott took the green for stage two from the 16th position on lap 87 and continued to race inside the top 20. He was scored in the 19th position when an incident brought out the caution on lap 98. Elliott communicated to Gustafson that the previous adjustments didn’t help the No. 9 Chevrolet’s handling, so the team made changes during a four-tire pit stop under the caution. The 28-year-old driver got a good restart from the 17th position, which propelled him inside the top 15 on lap 107. He reached the 12th spot by lap 135, which is where he was when the race was slowed for a caution on lap 144. Under the yellow, Elliott relayed positive feedback to the team regarding the most recent adjustments made. A fast pit stop by the No. 9 team for four tires and fuel gained Elliott two positions on pit road. He lined up 10th for the restart and advanced to ninth before another caution came out on lap 149. Staying out, he remained ninth and chose the top lane for the lap-154 restart. Cautions tend to breed cautions, and that was the case during stage two as another incident slowed the race on lap 157. Elliott was ninth at the time of the yellow flag. Pit strategy came into play with some teams opting to pit while others remained on the track. With the No. 9 team needing pivotal stage points to help in the playoffs, Gustafson made the call for Elliott to stay out, putting him sixth in the running order. The Dawsonville, Georgia, native took the green from the outside of row four on lap 162 and drove on to finish the second stage in the ninth position.

Continuing to fine tune the No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet’s handling, the team made a chassis adjustment during its pit stop for four tires and fuel under the stage-ending caution. Those who pitted prior to the stage break stayed out, which put Elliott deeper in the field to start the final stage. He took the green flag from 27th on lap 172 and methodically pressed forward, advancing to 20th by lap 176 and 15th by lap 182. He was up to 11th when green-flag pit stops got under way. Gustafson called Elliott to pit road on lap 212 for four tires and fuel. Elliott returned to the top 10 on lap 223 and was running in the 10th position when an incident brought out the caution on lap 236. He brought his No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet to the attention of his crew for four tires and fuel and restarted from the 13th position on lap 242. Just one lap later the caution came out again. Elliott took the green flag for the final restart of the race with just 20 laps to go and advanced from 13th to ninth before the checkered flag waved.

The ninth-place result was Elliott’s 15th top-10 finish of 2024. He leaves Kansas seventh in the Cup Series Playoff standings, four points above the elimination line with two races left in the Round of 12.

We just had an uphill battle all day. I really thought our No. 9 UniFirst Chevy was pretty good. We were able to move forward a long ways it seemed like. Since we had a bad pit pick, ultimately it just puts you in a bad position to lose spots on pit road. It just seemed like we would get a bunch of spots on the track, and then lose a bunch of spots on pit road. We tried to claw our way back up into the top 10, so it was nice to at least get that far.

Start / Finish: 38 / 9
Points Standing / Total: 7th / 3,044 pts.

Next Race: Sunday, October 6, Talladega Superspeedway
How to Watch or Listen: 2:00 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN or SiriusXM

NAPA: @NAPARacing
Chase Elliott: @ChaseElliott
Hendrick Motorsports: @TeamHendrick
No. 9 Team: @Hendrick9Team