NASCAR: Chase Elliott ends Hendrick, Chevrolet droughts
By Asher Fair
Chase Elliott’s berth in the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway ended lengthy droughts for both Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet.
In the closing laps of Sunday’s round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway, it was evident that while he entered the race with a possibility to advance on points, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott needed to win to qualify for the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4.
That is exactly what happened.
Elliott took the lead from Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr., who was in the same position, with 44 laps remaining in the 500-lap race around the four-turn, 0.526-mile (0.847-kilometer) oval in Ridgeway, Virginia before Truex made an unexpected pit stop due to an apparent loose wheel on his #19 Toyota.
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Elliott went on to cruise away with a 6.577-second victory over Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney in second place. In doing so, he locked himself into the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway for the first time in his five-year career as a full-time driver.
The 24-year-old Dawsonville, Georgia native is set to join Team Penske’s Joey Logano, who qualified for the Championship 4 as a result of his win at Kansas Speedway to open up the round of 8, as well as Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, who qualified for the Championship 4 by winning a points battle with Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick that came down to the race’s 500th and final lap.
Elliott’s Championship 4 berth ends two lengthy droughts: one for Hendrick Motorsports, and another for Chevrolet.
Since Jimmie Johnson won his record-tying seventh career championship in 2016 at Homestead-Miami Speedway behind the wheel of his #48 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports have not have a driver in the winner-take-all Championship 4 round. In fact, no Chevrolet drivers have advanced to the round.
The Championship 4 was introduced in 2014, and both the 2014 and 2015 seasons saw two Chevrolet drivers competing, including one Hendrick Motorsports driver in 2015.
Harvick drove the #4 Chevrolet in the round in both seasons, with Richard Childress Racing’s Ryan Newman joining him from behind the wheel of the #31 Chevrolet in 2014 and Jeff Gordon joining him from behind the wheel of the #24 Chevrolet in 2015.
Johnson was the lone Chevrolet driver in the 2016 Championship 4, as he was joined by Logano, who drove and still drives the #22 Ford, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch, who drove and still drives the #18 Toyota, and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Carl Edwards, who drove the #19 Toyota.
In 2017, Busch returned to the Championship 4 along with Keselowski behind the wheel of his #2 Ford, Harvick behind the wheel of his #4 Ford (the team switched from Chevrolet after 2016) and Truex behind the wheel of his #78 Toyota for Furniture Row Racing. Truex won the title.
In 2018, Logano won the championship ahead of Truex, Harvick and Busch. Last year, Busch won the title ahead of Truex, now driving the #19 Toyota, Harvick and Hamlin behind the wheel of his #11 Toyota.
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Will Elliott convert on this Championship 4 opportunity with his first career NASCAR Cup Series championship and the first for both Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet in four years? The Championship 4 race is set to be broadcast live on NBC from Phoenix Raceway beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, November 8.