PHOENIX, Ariz. – Chase Elliott was the dominant driver of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, as he led all drivers in wins (five), laps led (857) and average finish (12.5).
After the penultimate race at Martinsville Speedway on Oct. 30, he had a 98-point lead over Joey Logano in the full-season point standings. If there was no playoff system — just like the seasons before 2004 — Elliott would’ve been celebrating after Martinsville with a championship.
Instead, he was left empty-handed with a 28th-place finish at Phoenix Raceway.
A successful season for Elliott and the No. 9 was finished by running laps off the pace with a crippled car while Joey Logano dominated en route to his second Cup championship.
It had been a rough postseason for the No. 9 team well before Phoenix. Elliott did add another win to his total, as he pulled off a win at Talladega Superspeedway in October after a last-lap pass on Ryan Blaney. But Talladega, a runner-up finish at Bristol Motor Speedway and a 10th-place finish at Martinsville were the only top-10 finishes he had in the nine races leading up to Phoenix.
Nevertheless, the No. 9 survived the Round of 8 to reach its third-straight Championship 4, and the struggles in the last nine races were no longer relevant. All the title contenders were once again at square one for the season finale under the Arizona sun.
The weekend started off great for Elliott. He showed great long-run speed in practice on Friday (Nov. 4), and he backed it up with a fifth-place qualifying effort (Nov. 5).
The race began, and while Elliott was unable to catch polesitter Logano, he was able to hover around fifth for the first stage — good enough for second of the four, as Christopher Bell and Ross Chastain had ground to make up after starting deep in the field.
The second stage was a bit of a struggle, as Elliott was relegated to the back half of the top 10 while racing Chastain and Bell. There was a 96-lap green-flag run to end the second stage, and all the teams had to make one more pit stop.
Well, at least that was what he thought. Elliott was the lone Championship 4 driver to pit under green with just over 30 laps to go in stage two. Logano, Chastain and Bell all elected to stay out and save fuel in order to make it to the end of the stage without a pit stop.
Elliott was trapped a lap down for several laps, but a caution flag did not wave as he was quickly able to unlap himself. Before pit stops began, Elliott was running in…
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