DARLINGTON, S.C. – Chase Elliott could nearly reach out and touch a victory in one of NASCAR’s crown jewels, while Martin Truex hoped to claim his second win in the sport’s most grueling event.
But in the end Sunday at Darlington Raceway, a late scrap that went wrong cost both Elliott and Truex a potential score in the Cook Out Southern 500, as contact between the pair ended with them in the wall.
Truex was running down Elliott inside of 20 to go, following a caution for debris and late restart on lap 327, and made a daring move to the inside with 15 laps left that he hoped would pay dividends.
Instead, Truex just clipped Elliott’s front bumper as he tried to slide up the race track, sending the pair hard into the outside wall and eventually leading to right-side damage and tire issues for both drivers.
Elliott limped his Chevrolet home 20th, while Truex was scored 22nd after pitting for a fresh set of Goodyear tires in the final laps.
It was a disappointing end to the night for the pair, who hoped to settle the battle for Southern 500 supremacy among the two of them, and they didn’t quite see eye to eye on the situation after the race either.
“He (Truex) had a run on me there off of four and he just kind of cleared himself into one. He was close, but he wasn’t all the way clear, obviously,” Elliott said. “I hate it. Obviously we had a fast NAPA Camaro, fast enough to contend. We needed a little pace there to extend our lead instead of playing defense, but regardless I thought we were in a good spot.
“I ran the bottom in three and four to see if there was anything left down there; that’s what kind of gave him the run … and then he just slid up in to my left front, I felt like, and on we went (into the wall).”
At a track that was notoriously difficult to pass on all night – with only one on-track move for the top spot in the first two-thirds of the race outside of pit stops – Truex knew he had to take his shot in a big way if he wanted to have any hope of claiming the victory.
“I felt like I had enough of a run and enough space there that the last foot or so he was going to understand that if I was committed, we both weren’t going to make it,” said Truex, who led a race-high 196 laps. “Typically, here that’s kind of how you race. If a guy gets a run on you and he’s just about got you cleared, you have to give that last little bit.
“Now obviously, the end of the race and probably the pass for the win, he wanted to drive it on in there and I was committed to being clear … and there was no way we were both going to make the corners,” Truex added. “Basically, when I made up my mind and I was driving it in there and then he drove in on my right-rear quarter, there was no possible way that we both weren’t crashing.
“That’s what happened.”
In a sport where hundredths of a second and tenths of an inch can make up the difference between victory and defeat, Truex knew he couldn’t back down in his quest for the lead Sunday night.
“A few inches different, and either you wreck, or you give it to the guy,” explained Truex. “I feel like I was on the right side of things, but I’ll have to go back and look at it and see if there was something I could have done different. Again, really proud of everyone, and we obviously had the car to beat and just was trying to work over the 9 (Elliott) there. Obviously track position is really important here, and it looked like we were going to get the lead there. That would have been big.
“I don’t know, sometimes things just don’t work out. We gave it our all and came up short.”
Leaving Darlington, Truex and Elliott sit sixth and seventh in the playoff standings, respectively. The top 12 in points after three races will move from the Round of 16 into the Round of 12 in the postseason.
But Sunday night could have easily locked one of the two into that second round of the playoffs.
Instead, thanks to the slightest of missteps, Kevin Harvick took that honor and left both Elliott and Truex to wonder what might have been at the end of the 71st Cook Out Southern 500.
The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs continue with the Federated Auto Parts 400 on Sept. 12 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. It’s the second of three races in the Round of 16 and 28th race overall for the season.