After near miss at Daytona, Chase Elliott ready to tackle Atlanta

It was there for the taking.

Chase Elliott was right where most drivers want to be in the closing laps of a major race, leading Sunday’s Daytona 500.

He was all set to pick up his first career Monster Energy Cup Series victory. But there would be no siren blaring from the Dawsonville Pool Room as the No. 24 Chevrolet ran out of fuel with three laps remaining.

While victory at Daytona went to Kurt Busch, Elliott’s showing in the first race of 2017 gave the 21-year-old driver who replaced the retired Jeff Gordon in the 24 in 2016 a boost heading into this week’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

“We had such a great car down there,” Elliott said. “A great start to the week, a great Thursday night. I felt like for us, I’m absolutely sure it was very disappointing. That was a devastating way to end a good week, for sure.”

Elliott claimed the pole for the second straight year and won the first Can-Am Duel, becoming the first driver since Dale Earnhardt in 1996 to win the pole and one of the qualifying races. He wound up leading 39 laps, with only Kevin Harvick leading more laps (50), but he was out of the top-10 at the two stage points.

After running out of gas, Elliott finished 14th.

“There’s two things, I think, to look at about Daytona for us,” Elliott said. “We had to play the cards that we were dealt, and I thought we played them to the best of our ability. That’s something to be proud of.

“We ran out of of gas, and, yes, we were leading, and it’s easy to say, ‘All right, it was ours to lose.’ In reality, there were three laps to go, and three laps at Daytona is a long time. For us to sit back and think that we had it locked down is kind of foolish.”

After taking part in five races in 2015, Elliott picked up 10 top-five and 17 top-10 finishes a year ago and finishing 10th in points. He was named the series rookie of the year.

Daytona wasn’t the only time Elliott has come close to tasting victory. He finished second in both races last year at Michigan, and his other top-10 finishes included an eighth-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

If Elliott can play off his rookie success and his near miss at Daytona, there’s every chance he could enter the Monster Energ Cup victory lane for the first time, potentially doing so on his home-state track.

“For us, it’s disappointing, for sure,” Elliott said of last week’s performance. “But there were positives to take from the day. We were faced with circumstances that we really couldn’t control. I thought we played what we had the best we could, and some days that’s all you can do.”

This story was originally published March 3, 2017 at 1:14 PM with the headline "After near miss at Daytona, Chase Elliott ready to tackle Atlanta."