By Caleb Whisler, Staff Writer
Chase Elliott felt that he did not “deserve to run second” in the Toyota Owner’s 400 at Richmond Raceway due to pit stops and other circumstances.
Outside of the two stage breaks, the race was run under green conditions for 355 laps. For Elliott, it was a struggle to keep up with the leaders. The long green flag runs did not serve as a benefit for the team.
With four restarts in the final 50 laps of the race, Elliott was able to work his way through the field to second.
“Fortunately for me, they were wild in the right way. I was able to move forward. I was able to get a good finish with the way restarts went. It’s nice when you are on that side of things for once,” Elliott stated.
Over recent weeks, Hendrick Motorsports, as a whole, has been improving each weekend. Elliott believes that the team needs to keep expectations realistic.
“I think we have to continue to be realistic with ourselves. We can’t look at the results tonight and think we’re right there, because in reality I think we still have some work to do. I think anybody amongst our team would say the same thing,” Elliott stated.
“I’m not knocking anyone, anybody on my team or whoever, but we all know we need to do better. I think we just have to be realistic with ourselves.”