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Bob Pockrass
FOX Motorsports Insider
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Chase Elliott wrecked out early of the NASCAR Cup Series opening-round elimination race Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.
He got out of his car and thought he would be eliminated.
But Elliott, in reality, was only going to be in jeopardy if Alex Bowman could win the race, which would have eliminated a driver ahead of him in the points.
Bowman restarted third with four laps remaining but was on old tires and couldn’t do much as Christopher Bell ended up blowing by him and the rest of the drivers on old tires on his way to snapping a 24-race winless streak.
The four drivers who entered below the playoff cutline were eliminated as they didn’t earn enough points to leapfrog those ahead of them and didn’t win in order to earn an automatic berth to the next round. Bowman, Austin Dillon, Shane van Gisbergen and Josh Berry saw their championship hopes end.
While they left disappointed, Bell capped a first round where Joe Gibbs Racing drivers — Chase Briscoe, Denny Hamlin and Bell — swept the races of the opening round.
“A lot of fortune went into winning this race, making the right pit strategies, putting tires on at the right time, and making sure that you had a set of tires laying [there for the end],” Bell mentioned.
Christopher Bell snapped a 24-race winless streak on Saturday evening at Bristol.
BOWMAN CAN’T RALLY
Bowman had a depressing two races to open the playoffs however was the largest menace for a walk-off win-and-in. He had put himself in place to no less than have a shot on the finish in a race the place tires degraded faster than anticipated, forcing drivers to not race at one hundred pc however handle the tire put on.
The Hendrick driver completed eighth.
“I am happy with the trouble,” Bowman mentioned. “We’ve by no means gone out the primary spherical, in order that’s irritating. However after the final two weeks, simply being top-10 and being pointed in the precise course feels good.
“It’s straightforward to be pissed off, however I really feel like we did all we might at the moment. And searching again on it, it is type of all you possibly can ask for.”
Bowman was out of recent tires when the leaders pitted previous to a four-lap sprint to the end.
“There wasn’t actually a lot I might have performed,” Bowman mentioned. “I knew with how laborious I ran, that it was going to be actually unhealthy on that restart. … Not a lot we might have performed in another way, however you’ve received to attempt.”
Alex Bowman had his playoff hopes dashed at Bristol.
MORE DISAPPOINTMENT
Berry had a hearth — possible the results of tire rubber getting scorching on an exhaust or different pipe — that resulted in a last-place end. He completed final in every of the three playoff races.
Whereas they didn’t end final, van Gisbergen (twenty sixth) and Dillon (twenty eighth) have been by no means elements within the race.
Not one of the three have been projected to advance with out having a few of their finest performances of the season.
“We’ve certified properly,” Berry mentioned. “We’ve had good vehicles. We simply haven’t had the great finishes. That’s simply a part of it.
“I don’t assume you may ever script three last-place finishes within the ways in which we’ve gotten them over the previous couple of weeks.”
Dillon entered the closest of any of the drivers as he was 11 factors behind Austin Cindric.
“We needed to have the ability to race laborious, and it got here into only a placing round, attempting to make tires stay type of race — and our automotive wasn’t good for that,” Dillon mentioned.
SURVIVE AND ADVANCE
Whereas Briscoe, Hamlin and Bell received races to advance, 9 drivers earned sufficient factors in a spherical that usually is taken into account a “survive-and-advance” spherical.
Ryan Blaney (fourth), Joey Logano (fifth), William Byron (twelfth), Tyler Reddick (fifteenth), Ross Chastain (nineteenth), Austin Cindric (thirtieth), Denny Hamlin (thirty first), Kyle Larson (thirty second), Bubba Wallace (thirty fourth) and Elliott (thirty eighth) superior.
Simply how tense was it? Elliott, when he was instructed he was just about going to advance so long as Bowman didn’t win, responded: “Just about would not make me really feel higher [about advancing].”
Chase Elliott survived within the playoffs regardless of a tough evening at Bristol.
Elliott might really feel good as soon as Cindric had bother late and even when Bowman had received, Elliott would have superior.
Nearly the entire playoff drivers had bother at one level or one other.
“There have been possibilities tonight to get spun out,” Chastain mentioned. “There was such a distinction in pace and vehicles that are not [typically] aggressive with us that have been higher tonight with all of the [tire] circumstances, and so they’re simply blasting my again bumper off.
“It was simply loopy. However good to outlive as a result of we might have been wrecked a dozen instances tonight.”
A driver reminiscent of Chastain, who has a a lot stronger historical past at tracks within the upcoming spherical (New Hampshire, Kansas and the Charlotte street course), can put a tough few weeks behind him.
“We’ll go to win, not survive,” Chastain mentioned. “We wish to win, however the finish of the day, it’s important to survive.”
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports activities. He has spent many years protecting motorsports, together with over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting Information, NASCAR Scene journal and The (Daytona Seaside) Information-Journal. Observe him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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