By Caleb Whisler, Staff Writer
After starting from the pole position and leading the first 38 laps, Chase Elliott was able to finish 11th despite not having power steering for the majority of the event.
Elliott’s day looked to become a top-10 day with the chance of garnering a race win in 2019. Unfortunately, the day went south on Lap 38.
While lapping the field, Ryan Preece became loose coming off of Turn 4. As Elliott was checking up to miss Preece, Corey LaJoie tagged his back bumper and sent him into the inside wall.
As the team worked to fix the damage, they fell one lap down, but was able to get that lap back for a spin by Matt Tifft.
After getting his lap back and not having power steering for most of the race, Elliott was able to hold his own in the top-10 but tagged the wall on Lap 433.
“Definitely not what we started out hoping for,” Elliott said. “We got turned late in the race, that was about it. We fell behind from there. Had a great car, even without the power steering.”
With his finish at Bristol Motor Speedway, Elliott sits 10th in the points standings going to Richmond Raceway next Saturday.