While William Byron gave Hendrick Motorsports its 11th overall NASCAR Cup Series victory on Sunday at Watkins Glen International, another team member saw his championship hopes sputtering at the end of the day.
Dawsonville, Georgia's Chase Elliott was on many lists as a favorite to win on Sunday. It was a win he needed to make the cut into the Playoffs.
Elliott, a two-time winner at Watkins Glen, had hoped to lock up a postseason spot Sunday. After he qualified in the middle of the pack, he had used pit strategy to move as high as seventh. But his chances were ruined when his No. 9 Chevrolet ran out of fuel with 36 laps to go. He lost a lap and all hope of winning. In the end, he finished in 32nd place.
Elliott will have to win in the cutoff race on Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway to make the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season. The always unpredictable Daytona race will be the last chance for more than two dozen drivers to make the 16-car playoffs.
Bubba Wallace and Daniel Suarez will be equally anxious at Daytona. They are in a tight race along with Ty Gibbs for the 16th and final spot.
“Still stressful at hell, but that takes a little bit of the edge off for sure,” Wallace said.
Former series champions Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski eased their nerves by locking up playoff spots at the Glen, both securing berths because Byron was a repeat winner.
“It's great to have that off our shoulders,” Keselowski said. "We're going to race really hard with nothing to lose (at Daytona); that makes us really dangerous."
MCDOWELL’S MISCUES
Michael McDowell, who notched his second Cup win last week at the Indianapolis Motor Speeday infield road course, endured several struggles on pit road that cost him a chance at winning back-to-back races. He finished 36th, last.
McDowell, who led 17 laps and won the opening stage, was penalized early in the second for driving through too many stalls while entering his pit. The pass-through penalty dropped him from second to 17th. He had another pit-road penalty in the final stage, that one for crew members going over the safety wall too early.
McDowell ended up back in the pits with 15 laps to go with an engine issue.
“The highs and lows of motorsports,” McDowell said. “I think we had one of the fastest cars here today.”
UP NEXT
The series goes to Daytona for the regular-season finale on Saturday night. Austin Dillon is the defending race winner.
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