Elliott to start Cup race at Kansas from rear after engine change

Chase Elliott will start at the rear of the field Sunday at Kansas Speedway because of an engine issue with his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Elliott felt he was potentially down a cylinder during Saturday’s practice and his team did what they could under the hood on pit road. He ran 19 laps in practice and wound up 15th fastest overall.

“We’re not sure,” Elliott told NBC Sports of the issue. “We threw all the things [at it] that you can check on pit road. Obviously, when you have an engine issue like that, it can be difficult to identify what exactly is broken. For me, I came off Turn 2 and basically felt like it went down a cylinder; audible change, and lost a lot of power, so I knew something was wrong and came in as quick as I could just to try to keep from messing it up any worse.”

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In qualifying, Elliott did make a lap to the best of the car’s ability and to scuff the tires that carry over into the race, but then drove straight to the garage. Elliott was 38th of 38 drivers with his qualifying lap but would have started in the rear regardless, as the team will make an engine change ahead of the Hollywood Casino 400.

Kansas Speedway (3 p.m. ET, Sunday) is the first race in the Round of 12 in the playoffs.

Elliott begins the round sitting seventh on the playoff grid, six points above the cutline. He is a former winner at Kansas Speedway in 2018 and finished third at the track in the spring race.

“Such a bummer; what a terrible time to have something go wrong,” Elliott said. “The Hendrick engine shop has been so good throughout my career. I don’t even think I’ve filled up a hand of engine issues that we’ve had over the course of my entire career. I hate it, but I would much rather have it happen today than tomorrow.”