With six races remaining in the regular season, it’s still mathematically possible for Elliott to make it in the 16-driver playoff field on points but it’s becoming far more unrealistic.
Entering this weekend’s race at Pocono Raceway, Elliott is 23rd in the series standings, 60 points below the 16th and final position.
A recent string of three consecutive top-five finishes even got Elliott thinking about making the playoff field without a win but a 13th at Atlanta and 12th last weekend at New Hampshire quickly put a damper on that idea.
“My thought process really since all this has happened was, we were going to have to win,” Elliott, 27, said Friday at Pocono. “And that’s what everyone was saying until we had a few good weeks of points and then it was, ‘Yeah, he can point his way in.’
“The storylines can change pretty fast.”
Elliott and his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports team had high hopes for the New Hampshire race even though it had not been one of his best tracks. The team had participated in a Goodyear tire test at the track and thought the results were promising.
“Loudon was terrible. We struggled all weekend – which I was disappointed. I think as a team we all were,” he said. “We had a good test up there a couple of months ago. It hasn’t been a good track, so I was super-excited to get some extra laps and go up there and try to get better at a place where we haven’t been super good.
“I thought that we did that. I thought we made a lot of gains. We went back and we were horrendous and didn’t really understand why.”
The result, however, is Elliott is right back where he thought he would be – likely needing a trip to Victory Lane to make his eighth consecutive run in the playoffs. He has qualified for the playoffs every season he’s been a fulltime driver in the series.
It’s certainly not a bad place to be as Elliott earned his first Cup victory at the track one year ago, but the circumstances were unusual.
Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch finished first and second in the race, but both were disqualified after their respective cars failed post-race inspection. That handed the win to Elliott, the third-place finisher, who did not lead a lap in the race.
Still, Elliott sees no reason a win – and subsequent playoff berth – couldn’t come at Pocono.
“This weekend I think is an opportunity. Has it been a phenomenal race track for me? No, it hasn’t, but it is an opportunity to get better,” he explained. “And you want to try to improve and that is where my head is at.
“I want to get better, and I want to be fighting for wins each week and kind of get in the mix of those guys that when you walk in here after the race, you are not surprised to see have won an event.
“That is the group that I have always wanted to be in and just let the rest figure itself out.”
Elliott insists he and his team have everything they need to still have a great season.
“We just have to put the pieces together at the right time and extract our potential and we will be fine,” he said.
