Elliott Wins at Martinsville, Locks Himself into Final Four

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

Chase Elliott won the Xfinity 500 from Martinsville Speedway on Sunday afternoon to lock himself into the Championship round.

Elliott came into the race below the Playoff cutline needing a win to advance to the championship race.  Elliott came out swinging, and led 236 of 500 laps on his way to a dominant victory to lock him into the season finale.

Elliott said the victory was the missing piece to his team contending for a championship for the past few years.

“Biggest win ever for us,” Elliott said.  “To be backed in a corner like that and have to win tonight, I feel like that’s what we’ve been missing these past four or five years.”

Elliott led throughout the race, but a late pit miscue almost cost him a shot at the victory.  Elliott’s jackman jumped over the wall too soon, but was able to touch the pit wall to reset himself.  NASCAR originally penalized Elliott, but it was rescinded upon further review.

Elliott said the team was able to adjust on the car to help it drive better to get back to the lead.

“I didn’t think our car was driving as good there at the end as it was at the beginning of the race,” Elliott said.  “Those last couple pit stops…made some really good changes and had a good pit stop on that last one.”

“I feel like we’ve had the group to do this, we just have to go and make it happen; we did tonight.”

While Elliott celebrated, Kevin Harvick saw his championship hopes come to an end.  The nine-time winner and regular season champion struggled all day and finished 17th, eight points out of the final round.  Coming to the checkered flag and in need of a single point, Harvick spun Kyle Busch to try and gain one position.  After spinning himself, Harvick found himself on the outside looking in.

Harvick said regular-season success no longer means a simple road to the championship.

“These championships aren’t winning like Petty and Earnhardt used to win them,” Harvick said.  “You have to put them together three weeks at a time and it comes down to one race.”

“Not a great three weeks; didn’t go our way and we fought for everything we had.  It just came up short.”

Following the race on Sunday, Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr. and Kurt Busch joined Harvick as the four drivers eliminated from Playoff contention.

The Cup Series season ends next Sunday at Phoenix Raceway, and Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski will join Elliott as the four drivers eligible for the Cup Series Championship.

1. Chase Elliott

2. Ryan Blaney

3. Joey Logano

4. Brad Keselowski

5. Kurt Busch

6. Alex Bowman

7. Aric Almirola

8. Clint Bowyer

9. Kyle Busch

10. Matt DiBenedetto

11. Denny Hamlin

12. Erik Jones

13. Cole Custer

14. Matt Kenseth

15. Christopher Bell

16. Ty Dillon

17. Kevin Harvick

18. Ryan Newman

19. Ryan Preece

20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

21. Bubba Wallace

22. Martin Truex Jr.

23. Austin Dillon

24. Tyler Reddick

25. Corey LaJoie

26. John Hunter Nemechek

27. Daniel Suarez

28. Michael McDowell

29. Timmy Hill

30. Jimmie Johnson

31. JJ Yeley

32. Josh Bilicki

33. Quin Houff

34. Joey Gase

35. William Byron

36. James Davison

37. Brennan Poole

38. Chris Buescher

39. Garrett Smithley

Photos courtesy Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images