BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) — While Chris Buescher won his second straight NASCAR Cup Series race by holding off Martin Truex late at Michigan International Speedway on Monday, one fan favorite was nowhere to be found.
Dawsonville, Georgia's Chase Elliott was eliminated from the race on lap 35 on Sunday, before the rains pushed the completion of the race to Monday afternoon. Elliott lost control due to a tire failure that left him with a 36th place finish. That pushed the 2020 Cup champion lower in the standings, putting him in the precarious position of needing to win one of the final three races in the regular season to make the playoffs.
"I hate that it happened," Elliott said on Sunday. "It was really early in the day to have a tire blow like that. It was really weird. It’s a bummer, but not surprised.”
Two other top drivers also didn't make it to Monday. William Byron and Kyle Busch, who have a combined seven wins this year, were knocked out of the competition on the first day of the two-day race. Busch spun out and hit a wall after making side-by-side contact with Ryan Blaney early in the race and Byron ran into a wall without anyone around him shortly after Truex won the first stage.
“I put myself in a bad spot," Busch said on Sunday. "I really hate that I did that. I wish the results were better for the day for our entire RCR team. They work so hard and do so much for me to put myself in a bad spot like that and get crashed. Hate it for Kwik Trip and everybody involved, it was a really short day.”
“I just got loose trying to get stage points there," Byron said Sunday. "We were dicing it up. We didn’t have the best restart, so we were gaining spots back, but just tried too hard. We’ll just regroup and try to get a good couple of weeks before the playoffs. Just made a mistake – was just trying hard and got loose.”
Busch was credited with a 37th place finish, with Byron in 35th.
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The NASCAR Cup Series moves closer to the Playoff cutoff this coming weekend with a trip to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's infield road course on Sunday.
