Dawsonville native Chase Elliott finished 23rd in the Quaker 400 at Kentucky Speedway on Sunday, pushing him back down to fourth in the overall NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings.
During stage 1, it looked like Elliott was going to be a top-five finisher at the end of the race, with him finishing second, gathering nine extra race points.
Elliott continued running in the pack’s top 10 until he went in for a pit stop on lap 159, 12 left in stage 2. The pit crew had trouble getting his back right tire off of the car, losing seconds on the pit stop. By the time he had gotten back out, he was much further behind the other racers he pitted with.
Elliott began regaining momentum and when a caution flag arose with only 14 laps left, Elliott found himself running 13th overall.
However, Elliott began inexplicably slipping and by the end of the race, he was in 23rd place.
Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski continue to shift spots two through four in the overall standings with Elliott, with Keselowski sitting in second and Blaney in third.NASCAR’s All-Star race will be in Bristol, Tenn., on Wednesday night. Elliott will be one of the sixteen racers competing in this nonpoint race.