Chase Elliott gave it everything he had in the closing laps of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The driver of the No. 9 car was steadily closing the gap on race leader Denny Hamlin as the laps ticked down in the Pennzoil 400. However, the 2020 Cup Series champion simply ran out of time before he could make a move for the lead. In the end, Elliott had to settle for second place, and while the Georgia native was disappointed to miss out on the win, he still chose to focus on the positives after a strong run in Sin City.

Chase Elliott lets his frustrations be known with latest defeat

During his post-race interview, Elliott opened up about how the finish felt to him.

“Obviously bummed to come up that close and wish I could have pieced together a couple laps at the end, trying to be as tidy as I could be. But he did a really good job, so congratulations to him for holding his ground there and putting together a good 5 or 6. Because it looked like a handful, but I don’t know, just kind of mixed feelings.”

Although the weekend did not end in his favor, Elliott still believes that he has multiple positives to take home from Las Vegas.

“Yeah, it was definitely better there towards the end than when we started the run, and I thought there might be an opportunity. I knew that he was starting to get tight at the end of the run. Just as bummed as I am to come up that close to winning, I have to kind of bring myself to a reality check and just see how much better we ran today. So, I am balancing that.”

“You know these things are hard to win; obviously, there was a great opportunity to do it, but I am really proud of the effort throughout the week, the preparation. Yesterday, I was just kind of fighting through a not-so-good day and getting up there and mixing with these guys that are winning all these races. Really proud of that; it was a really solid day.”

While it did not give him the sweet first victory of the season, at least Las Vegas Motor Speedway gave him hope for the upcoming races ahead. With three top 10 finishes in four races, Elliott is up to a solid, if not the best, start.

What matters now is converting this start into an actual race-winning campaign that lands him in the Chase for the title. However, his weekend was still better than his teammate’s, whom he feels sorry for.

Chase Elliott extends warm support to Alex Bowman

For the second consecutive weekend, Alex Bowman remains sidelined as another driver steps in for him in the No. 48 at Hendrick Motorsports, with vertigo still keeping him out of action.

Seeing his struggle, Elliott can’t help but feel bad for his teammate. “You never know what’s going to happen or what tomorrow brings or what something today can impact tomorrow. I hate that he’s going through it.”

“Just hope we can obviously help, first and foremost. Just hope he can get some answers to the questions that he has and get him back here at the track soon.” As Elliott recalls, he and Bowman were close teammates at Hendrick Motorsports. Not only that, but Elliott enjoys working with him and keeps wanting to help him out in some manner.

Unfortunately, given the nature of the exhausting Cup schedule and the severity of Bowman’s condition, Elliott can’t do much. For now, he can only wish that his friend were able to power through his problems and return to racing.