NASCAR: Chase Elliott’s comeback win a perfect example of why to never give up

Chase Elliott appeared to be out of contention when he crashed from the lead in the NASCAR Cup Series playoff race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway roval. But in the race’s closing laps, he made his way from the back to the front to illustrate a perfect case of why to never give up.

Coming to the restart on lap 66 of the 109-lap Bank of America Roval 400 NASCAR Cup Series playoff race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott led the race, and he had led more laps than anybody at that point with 29 laps led after starting the race toward the middle of the 40-car field in 19th place.

But he completely missing his braking point heading into turn one of this 17-turn, 2.28-mile (3.669-kilometer) Concord, North Carolina roval on this restart.

As a result, the stage two winner plowed into the barrier as the entire rest of the field drove past.

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Fortunately for Elliott, he had already done what he needed to do coming into this race, the third and final race of the round of 16 of the four-round, 10-race 2019 playoffs.

He won stage two to secure an additional playoff point, and he accrued enough regular points through the race’s first two stages to clinch a spot in the round of 12.

He was slated to advance to the round of 12, and he was slated to do so 14 points above the round of 8 cut line, a solid margin considering the fact that the fact that point totals are reset for the advancing playoff drivers after each round.

But he didn’t want to be 14 points up; he wanted to be 19 points up.

A 31st place finish wouldn’t cut it. Heck, a second place finish wouldn’t cut it.

He needed to win.

Already in the race’s third and final stage, a win seemed like it was out of the question. But Elliott’s #9 Chevrolet wasn’t too badly damaged, and his crew made the necessary repairs to keep it competitive and to keep him on the lead lap.

The fact that he had already driven from 19th place to the lead coupled with the fact that he had won two of the last four road course races and finished in sixth in last year’s Bank of America Roval 400 meant that if there was still a chance for Elliott to win, he wasn’t going to let it go without first seeing if it amounted to anything.

He restarted the race in 31st place. A few laps later, he was up to 24th. Then 19th. Then 13th.

He briefly inherited the lead during final pit stops before making his final pit stop. He came out in the top 10.

The race’s final restart took place with six laps remaining, at which point he was in third place behind race leader Kevin Harvick of Stewart-Haas Racing and second place driver Martin Truex Jr. of Joe Gibbs Racing.

Before crossing the start/finish line with five laps to go, Elliott was out front, and he never looked back. Over the course of a 39-lap stint on a road course, he dropped from first place to 31st before battling back to first, and he still ended up leading more laps than anybody else in the field with 35 laps led.

“Oh my gosh. What a mistake. Holy moly. You talk about messing something up, right here,” stated Elliott regarding his mistake after taking the checkered flag. “Don’t do that.”

But what became arguably the most embarrassing moment of the 2019 season turned into the start of a brilliant comeback, one that even racing legend Mario Andretti, who was on hand to drive the pace car for this race, could not ignore.

“What a day,” Elliott continued. “We had such a fast NAPA Camaro ZL1 and honestly, that was the only reason we were able to get back in. I pretty well blew it; and got the cautions at the right time, and brought it home. Thank you guys. I made a whole lot of noise right there.”

Elliott’s burnout consisted of him returning to the scene of the crime, where just an hour or so earlier it had appeared that his chance of doing any kind of burnout was gone.

This come-from-behind victory came just one weekend after Truex was leading the race at Richmond Raceway before he was spun out by Roush Fenway Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Truex only ended up falling back to third place before the ensuing caution flag period, but he still battled back from adversity to retake the lead and go on to win his second consecutive playoff race.

Now just eight days later, Chase Elliott goes from 31st to 1st place in a matter of 39 laps — in a road course race.

Who knows? Maybe it’s just better to spin or wreck in NASCAR Cup Series playoff races these days. Maybe Mario Andretti is onto something. It sure worked for Martin Truex Jr., and Elliott further exemplified what it means to never give up, even when it may seem as though what you’re fighting for is completely out of sight.