Elliott Gets Caught Up in Multi-Car Incident at Richmond

• Chase Elliott and the No. 9 UniFirst team qualified fifth for Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway.
• Elliott spent the majority of the first stage inside the top five. Two different strategies occurred. Some split the stage while others stayed on track to save a set of tires. The No. 9 team opted to save a set of tires, putting Elliott in 13th at the end of the stage.
• During the stage break, Elliott visited pit road for four tires and fuel. He unfortunately received a vehicle interference penalty, which sent him to the tail of the field for the start of stage two.
• Later in stage two, Elliott pitted for fresh tires under caution and was ready to use them to gain track position. Unfortunately, he was caught up in a multi-car incident following the restart and his No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet was too damaged to continue in the race.
• The 29-year-old driver was relegated to a 38th-place finish. It was his first DNF of the season.
• Elliott remains second in the points standings with just one race remaining in the regular season.

Chase Elliott and the No. 9 UniFirst team qualified fifth for Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway. Elliott spent the majority of the first stage inside the top five. With tires at a premium, multiple strategies occurred. Some of the field opted to split the stage while others decided to stay out. Elliott and the No. 9 team were on the second strategy, wanting to save a set of tires to use later in the race. The 29-year-old driver remained inside the top five until fresher tires started to prevail at lap 61. When the green-and-white checkered flag waved to end stage one, Elliott was scored in the 13th position.

During the stage break, Elliott came to pit road four fresh tires and fuel. Unfortunately, Elliott received a penalty for vehicle interference after having to come around the No. 19 to get into his pit stall. Even though he was inside the top 10 leaving pit road, he was forced to start the second stage from the tail of the field. Undeterred by the loss of track position, Elliott worked hard to advance his position in stage two. He was up to 24th before pitting for four tires and fuel under green on lap 123. Back on track, he continued to press forward, advancing to 18th before another round of green flag pit stops got under way. Elliott visited pit road on lap 176 for four fresh tires and fuel. He advanced from 28th to 25th before a caution came out on lap 180, trapping him a lap down.

Elliott took the wave around to get back on the lead lap. He restarted 24th on lap 189 and was in that same position when the yellow flag was displayed once again just two laps later. Crew chief Alan Gustafson called Elliott in for four tires and fuel. He took the green flag in 26th and was working his way forward when he got collected in a multi-car incident that brought out the caution on lap 198. Elliott’s No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet was too damaged to continue in the race. The 2020 Cup Series champion was relegated to a 38th-place finish.

“I think Kyle (Busch) just didn’t know that we were trying to squeeze by the wreck on the bottom,” Elliott said after the incident. “He was kind of angled back towards the bottom of the racetrack, and I was just coming through. It’s just unfortunate. We had a good start to the race. We kind of got on the wrong end there in the beginning and lost some track position. We got behind the No. 19 (Chase Briscoe) and got a penalty. I thought we were in a pretty good spot right there. We finally got on some better tires and we were making our way through there well, so I was excited to see where that was going to go, but unfortunately, we didn’t get the chance.”

Elliott remains second in the points standings with just one race remaining in the regular season.

Start / Finish: 5 / 38
Points Standing / Total: 2nd / 771 pts. (-68)

Next Race: Saturday, Aug. 23, Daytona International Speedway
How to Watch or Listen: 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC, SiriusXM or MRN

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