NASCAR: Chase Elliott’s penalties might have far-reaching implications

Chase Elliott has now lost 72 points in the last seven NASCAR Cup Series races due to penalties, including 35 in the last two.

Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports was punished with yet another pre-race penalty prior to his second-place finish in this past Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International.

This was likely his most serious, since it not only sent him to the back of the field and resulted in the ejection of crew chief Alan Gustafson, but it also cost him 10 points in the driver standings.

While this was Elliott’s first point penalty before a race this season, it was not the first time he had been stripped of points due to an infraction.

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In fact, he’d just dropped 25 points in the last race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Furthermore, a great 38-point day at Nashville Superspeedway in June, which saw him score a playoff point with a stage win, turned into a one-point day with no playoff point due to a post-race disqualification, leaving him with more questions than answers. With three races left in the regular season, Elliott is sixth in the point standings with 749 points, nine points ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. in seventh.

But without the penalties, he would be sitting in a comfortable third with 821 points — 72 more than he actually has.

Teammate William Byron now ranks in third place with 786 points. Elliott would be 35 points ahead of him rather than 37 points behind him.

The regular season championship is still out of reach for Elliott, as teammate Kyle Larson and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin are tied for first place with 917 points each (94 points ahead of 821).

However, this is still a significant differential for Elliott, given that additional playoff points are allocated based on where drivers complete the regular season in the point standings. The third-place finisher receives eight points, while the sixth-place finisher receives only five.

Here’s a full list:

• 1st – 15
• 2nd – 10
• 3rd – 8
• 4th – 7
• 5th – 6
• 6th – 5
• 7th – 4
• 8th – 3
• 9th – 2
• 10th – 1
• 11th or lower – 0

In Elliott’s case, it’s a four-point difference in playoff points right now, not just a three-point difference, because he was stripped of the playoff point he earned by winning a stage at Nashville Superspeedway due to the disqualification, a disqualification that ultimately cost him 37 of the 72 points he’s lost in the last seven races.

And, depending on how many points separate him from each of his competitors in the rankings by the end of the regular season, the difference in playoff points might be considerably greater.

As the four-round, ten-race playoffs approach, the #9 team continues to lose critical points — and playoff points — owing to technicality.

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However, they demonstrated in last year’s Championship 4 race at Phoenix Raceway that starting from the back is not as disadvantageous as it may appear, as Elliott raced from the back to the front and led the most laps to win the championship.

Points penalties may complicate matters, but Elliott took advantage of the win-and-in aspect of each individual round of the playoffs last year, winning the round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway only to get into the Championship 4.

Elliott has four top-two finishes, including two wins, in five road course races this season, and the NASCAR Cup Series will visit a new road track this weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

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