Elliott Places Third in Martinsville Playoff Race

• Chase Elliott and the No. 9 LLumar team qualified eighth for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series playoff elimination race at Martinsville Speedway.
• Elliott entered the weekend needing to win on Sunday to advance to the Championship 4.
• The 29-year-old driver finished both stages one and two in fourth place.
• In the final stage, Elliott restarted fourth late in the race and advanced to third before the checkered flag waved.

Chase Elliott and the No. 9 LLumar team entered the NASCAR Cup Series race weekend at Martinsville Speedway needing a win to advance to the Championship 4. Elliott was fastest in Saturday’s practice session before qualifying eighth for Sunday’s race. From the drop of the green flag, the No. 9 LLumar Chevrolet showed speed. He was up to third by the time the first caution came out on lap 29. Under the yellow, a slightly slow stop while pitting for four tires and fuel put Elliott seventh for the restart on lap 36. Undeterred, the 29-year-old quickly improved to third by lap 49 before slipping to fourth as the run went on. That is where he would remain to close out stage one on lap 130.

Under the stage-ending caution, crew chief Alan Gustafson called Elliott to pit road for four fresh tires and fuel. Elliott was the fourth car off pit road, and he took the green flag for the second stage from the outside of the second row on lap 141. Getting stuck in the outside lane in the opening laps of the stage, Elliott lost some ground before clearing down to the preferred lane in the sixth position. From there, he advanced to fourth before an incident brought out the caution on lap 216. After pitting for four tires and fuel, Elliott restarted fourth on lap 223 and remained in that position through a series of cautions before being third to choose his lane for the lap-249 restart. He opted for the inside of row two and ultimately finished fourth in the stage.

During the stage break, Elliott was the third car off pit road after making a fast stop for fresh tires. With some cars opting not to pit, he lined up in the fourth row for the final stage on lap 271. Elliott climbed to seventh before the yellow flag was displayed on lap 279. Staying out, he restarted in the same position on lap 286. This time, he advanced as high as third before pitting from the fourth position under the green flag on lap 375. Just a few laps later, an incident slowed the race and trapped Elliott a lap down. The team took the wave-around to get back on the lead lap. Elliott restarted eighth and was in that same position when the caution came out on lap 398. Once back under green, the 2020 Cup Series champion made headway. Elliott moved into fifth on lap 414 but began losing ground during the long green-flag run, slipping to sixth on lap 444. When the yellow flag waved on lap 482, the team made its final pit stop of the race for four tires and fuel. A fast stop gained Elliott two positions on pit road. He lined up fourth for the restart and climbed to third to end the race, coming up just a couple of positions short of advancing to the Championship 4.

It was Elliott’s fourth consecutive top-four finish at Martinsville.

Start / Finish: 8 / 3
Points Standing / Total: 9th / 2,282 pts.

Next Race: Sunday, Nov. 2, Phoenix Raceway
How to Watch or Listen: 3:00 p.m. on NBC, SiriusXM or MRN

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