Chase Elliott Comes Up Just Short at Brickyard; NASCAR Playoff Chances Slim

Chase Elliott trailed leader Michael McDowell by 1.394 seconds when the duo received the white flag in Sunday’s Verizon 200 at The Brickyard, but the NASCAR champion’s last lap charge fell short by a mere 0.937 second.

The checkered flag gave McDowell his first victory this year and a playoff berth, while Elliott was left still needing a win with two races left in the regular season. Elliott's last two chances to make the playoffs come down to races Aug. 20 at Watkins Glen and Aug. 26 at Datyona.

“Michael did an outstanding job getting through traffic and I didn’t,” Elliott says.

The Georgia driver, who led only one lap, said his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet needed to be a “little better” through the course’s back half and get off turn 14, the last turn before the front straightaway “a little better just to have myself in a better spot getting into (turn) one.”

‘Heartbreaking’ Day for Suarez

A pit stop miscue with 34 laps remaining in Sunday’s Verizon 200 at The Brickyard proved costly for Daniel Suarez who had to settle for a third-place finish.

Suarez, who earned the pole for the event and had the No. 1 pit, was running in the top three with eventual winner Michael McDowell and Chase Elliott when they all came to pit road for their final stop. All four received four tires and fuel, but when Suarez’s jackman lowered his car after the left-side tires were changed, the front tire came down on the tire changer’s air hose. The jackman, who had already run to the car’s right side, dashed to the left side, jacked up the car to free the air hose and then returned to the right side.

“Just a little bit heartbreaking, but that’s part of the sport,” Suarez says. “We win and we lose as a team, and that’s all I can say.”

In reviewing the incident, crew chief Travis Mack said the air hose had a weird loop in it.

“There’s three guys involved,” Mack says. “You’ve got Daniel stopping in the box, the tire changer who’s holding the hose and then you’ve got a guy behind the wall throwing the hose. So, it’s definitely a team thing, a team issue that we’ll work on this week. We’ll look at the film and see what we could do better next time.”

The pit stop resulted in Suarez returning to the track nine seconds behind McDowell and runner-up Elliott.

Prior to the pit road incident, Suarez said McDowell was “pretty good” in the middle part of a run and he was better at the end of the run.

“It was gonna be a good fight,” Suarez says. “I’m disappointed that we didn’t get to see it.”

Amazing Weekend for Van Gisbergen

Shane van Gisbergen showed over a three-day period in Indianapolis that he’s not just a street course wonder.

On Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, van Gisbergen recorded a 10th-place finish in the Verizon 200 at The Brickyard. Coupled with his victory in the inaugural Chicago street course event, van Gisbergen now has two top-10 finishes in only two NASCAR Cup races.

“I guess everyone’s expectations are high because of Chicago, but the top 10 is still awesome,” Van Gisbergen says.

“The race was pretty tough. A lot more contact and pushing around. I got pushed out of the way by Alex Bowman, but I blocked him and then he pushed me straightaway. I learned pretty quick not to block that early. I was enjoying it the whole time.”

Van Gisbergen notes the NASCAR pace is “very intense the way you have to drive the car.”

“These things you have to hustle the whole time,” Van Gisbergen says.

Van Gisbergen noted everyone was more aggressive than in the Chicago race, but he expected it.

“It wasn’t bad stuff or overly aggressive, it’s just how the racing is,” Van Gisbergen says. “Everyone was fair.”

While in Indianapolis, van Gisbergen also made his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. In his first-ever race on an oval, van Gisbergen finished 19th, the first truck one lap down, to winner Ty Majeski, whose victory advances him to that series playoffs second round.

“I’ve had a smile on my face all weekend,” Van Gisbergen says. “That truck race was fun, just constantly learning … just getting better and better all week, understanding the lingo. It’s been fun.”