Chase Elliott proud of Top-5, hopes to ‘contend for a win’

Coming off his one-week suspension, Chase Elliott led seven laps and netted a fifth-place finish Sunday in the Toyota/Save Mart 350.

“It’s nice to get a top-five, no doubt, so proud of that,” Elliott said. “We were trying to do something a little different with strategy, so we had pit about six or eight laps there before that caution.”

“We just felt like our only play was to stay out. I was really hoping that more people would do that with us so we’d have three or four rows.”

Elliott has scored three top-5 finishes in his nine races this season, including a second-place finish in Fontana. That was his last race before a snowboarding injury sidelined him for six races.

“A top-five is good,” Elliott said. “Looking forward to build on that and hopefully contend for a win before long.”

Despite missing seven events, Elliott is 27th in points. He is ahead of five drivers who have competed in all 16 races this year.

Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman holds the final playoff spot. With 10 races left before the start of the NASCAR playoffs, Elliott is 84 points behind Bowman.