Copyright sportskeeda
Chase Elliott touched upon his elimination from the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs and reflected on his Martinsville performance. Speaking to the media, the Hendrick Motorsports driver stated that he expected a good result, but just came up short.Elliott started his third race in the playoffs' round of 8 with a negative point. A win at the Xfinity 500 at the Martinsville Speedway was a must for him to qualify to the next round. However, he ended up finishing third, which was not enough to see him through to the next round.Kyle Larson, his teammate, who had a massive points advantage and was placed above the cutline, was the only driver who qualified on the virtue of points. As Elliott missed out on Championship 4, here's what he told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio after the race:"I think that's pretty much it, and just not good enough. That is nobody's fault, but ours at the end of the day too. So just came up a little short you know. It was a good effort. Really proud of the fight throughout the week. Everybody had the shot for bringing their very best and then I thought we were showed sign of life there at times."Yeah, got caught a lap down under that cycle that really hurt us. But ultimately just seem to be a little better. I thought William was just that little bit that we needed to carve through traffic, a little bit and put ourselves in a better position. So yeah, I hate it," he further added.Chase Elliott started his race from eighth place and improved to fourth place by the end of Stage 1. In Stage 2, he remained at the same position, but in the final stage, he ended up in third place.As Elliott finished the race in third, he was eliminated along with Christopher Bell, reigning champion and runner-up, Joey Logano, and Ryan Blaney of Team Penske. William Byron won the race, ahead of Blaney.Chase Elliott lauded Hendrick Motorsports teammate, William Byron after Martinsville victoryChase Elliott shared his thoughts after the Martinsville race and hailed his teammate, William Byron, who won the race to qualify for the final round. Speaking to the media after the race, here's what the #9 man said:Chase Elliott (9) during the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway - Source: Imagn"William (Byron) and the No. 24 team did a great job and capitalized on a fast Saturday; put themselves in a good spot and got it done," Elliott said. "The effort everybody at Hendrick Motorsports put into these cars and just trying to bring our very best here, I thought we did that. Unfortunately, we just came up short. But fortunately, we got two cars into the Championship Four and hopefully one of them can get it done.” (via NBC Sports)Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe will take on Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson and William Byron in the fight for the Championship this Sunday. It will be interesting to see if a new champion is crowned or Larson picks his second Cup Series title.
