Elliott shoulders blame for not sealing Dover win

The words were filled with dejection as Chase Elliott keyed the radio after the checkered flag at Dover International Speedway.

"I'm so sorry guys. So sorry."

Elliott wasn't feeling any better by the time he came to a stop on pit road. Taking his time to unbuckle from his No. 24 Chevrolet, Elliott climbed out and was met by his teammate, Jimmie Johnson. The seven-time champion wanted to check on Elliott, knowing he would need some time to himself to digest a heartbreaking loss in the Apache Warrior 400.

Related Stories

"I knew I couldn't make him feel any better; I just wanted to check on him and turn him around where people couldn't see his face and let him get those few first words and sentences out," Johnson said. "I anticipated them being cuss words, and they were. ... I just know from my own experience it's just nice to kind of vent and get through that.

"Clearly, he didn't have much to say, and he's pretty bummed out about the situation, so is his team. They're all gathered down there around the car. But mid‑week I'm sure they'll work through this and find the silver lining and move on and go to Charlotte. They're a fantastic race team. Chase is one heck of a driver, and look forward to whenever that celebration does happen."

Cycling to the race lead on Lap 340, Elliott had almost four seconds on second-place Kyle Busch. At first, Busch slowly chipped away at the lead. Then he was just car lengths back from Elliott inside the final 10 laps. With two laps to go Busch charged off Turn 2 and erased the gap, clearing Elliott off Turn 4 and driving to the victory.

Leaning against his car, Elliott ran his hands through his hair and clearly shouldered both the disappointment and blame. He led a race-high 138 laps.

.@KyleBuschpassed Chase Elliott with two laps remaining to win a thriller at@MonsterMile!#NASCARPlayoffs#Rowdy18pic.twitter.com/q7TvxwvJNS— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC)October 1, 2017

"I certainly appreciate his friendship and him willing to come over and talk to me, but yes, I think that kind of shows the kind of person [Johnson] is, but it doesn't fix my lack of performance this afternoon," Elliott said.

A runner-up effort Sunday was the second time in three weeks Elliott has finished second. It is also the third time this season he's done so and the fifth time in 70 career starts.

"It was all just lap traffic dependent," Elliott said of whether he could have hung on for the win. "I thought if I had a clean track, I could have run as fast as he did, but I didn't, and I should have done something different.

"So, that's just on me, and he did a better job than I did. At the end of the day, that's what it comes down to."

While Elliott wasn't focused on the accomplishment at the moment, his run was good enough to make him one of the 12 drivers to advance to the next round of the playoffs.