Chase Elliott had one reason to win, and Jimmie Johnson had 101 reasons to win Sunday night.
And they both went home with nothing.
They both had their chances at a glorious Coca-Cola 600 victory, a sweet moment of redemption that either Hendrick Motorsports driver could have used to forget about frustrating pasts.
Elliott hoisting the trophy at Charlotte Motor Speedway would have been an image opposite of his standing on the Darlington Raceway track with his middle finger raised at Kyle Busch, as he did on Wednesday night after being wrecked out of racing for the win.
Johnson hoisting the trophy would have snapped a winless streak of 101 races dating back to June 2017 at Dover — although even if he had hoisted the trophy, he likely would have had to give it back, since his car failed postrace inspection.
If they both continue to lead laps and find themselves in contention for wins as they did Sunday, they will find themselves inside victory lane. But racing can be fickle, and striking when you are hot can make the difference between having a great season and a frustrating one.
While Elliott doesn’t have the winless streak of Johnson (Elliott’s last win was 14 races ago on the Charlotte road course), a win in the 600 likely would have soothed the pain from Wednesday. The 600 is a major win, and one that eluded his Hall of Fame father.
This one was in Elliott’s hands as he took the lead on Lap 363, but William Byron spun with a flat with less than two laps remaining. Elliott then pitted for four tires, restarting 11th as nine drivers stayed out and two drivers took just two tires. Elliott rallied to third in the final two laps but couldn’t catch race winner Brad Keselowski and Johnson.
“It's a little different, for sure,” Elliott said about the feeling of losing a race he was about to win Sunday and being wrecked while running second Wednesday. “We were a lap and a half away from winning the Coca‑Cola 600. [We’ll] just try again. That's all you can do.
“I mean, there is really no other option. I can't rewind time. There's no other choice.”
His crew chief, Alan Gustafson, will second guess the choice to have Elliott pit, but in that situation, the field will react to the leader. If the leader stays out, some of the stronger cars might take four tires and be close enough to catch him. And he had a poor restart earlier in the race on old tires, albeit not from the front row.
“This week's been pretty unfortunate,” Elliott said. “We've had some tough losses in my career, for however many years I've been doing this, five, six years, unfortunately. It is what it is.”
The tough losses for Johnson have come more often in recent years. The seven-time Cup champion has 83 career victories and has made a pretty solid argument to be considered among the top-five drivers of all time. But the last couple of seasons have been incredibly frustrating, including two crew chief changes and a 2019 where he failed to make the playoffs.
Johnson led six laps but he restarted beside Keselowski on the final restart. In the moment, Johnson said he didn’t think about the winless streak.
“That doesn’t run through my head [at the time],” Johnson said. “After the fact, it was like, ‘Dang, we were so close,’ and it dawns on me. But in the moment, you’re so focused on doing your job trying to think through all the things I need to do and be ready for and the scenarios will come along, I’m not in the head space thinking like that [about the streak].”
But Johnson can see good things. He was leading at Darlington in the first race back since the season was suspended and just made a mistake, wrecking his car early. He has two top-5s and four top-10s in seven races this year.
“Coming to the finish line and seeing the 2 [of Keselowski] ahead of me, I’m like, ‘Damn, I’m so close to that win to break the winless streak,' but that is the first time it really crept into my mind,” Johnson said.
The 100th race without a win – the race where he crashed at Darlington – didn’t come with a spotlight, as his crash and the euphoria of returning to racing put his winless woes deep in the storylines.
And Johnson didn’t seem to be sweating it anyway.
“I’m not into stats,” Johnson said. “Never have been. Never will be. It’s just not something I spend time on.”
That’s good for Johnson, because if he looked on social media near the end of the race, he would have seen plenty of people posting about the possibility that this could have been the night the streak ended.
As Elliott said about his own situation, “It is what it is.”
And that also could apply to Johnson’s car failing the rear alignment measurements in postrace tech. His crew chief tweeted about the failure.
And if Johnson is worried about his streak or Elliott’s misfortune, he’s not showing it.
“As Kevin Harvick always says, ‘You can’t drive a slow car fast,’” Johnson said. “We’ve had some issues over the last few years, and it seems we’re going in the right direction now.”
On The Air
Monday
Xfinity Series Alsco 300, 7:30 p.m., FS1
Tuesday
Gander Trucks North Carolina Lottery 200, 8 p.m., FS1
Wednesday
Cup Series Alsco 500, 8 p.m., FS1
Saturday
Xfinity Series Cheddar’s 300, 3:30 p.m., FS1
Sunday
Cup Series Food City 500, 3:30 p.m., FS1
Stat of Note
With the extra five laps of overtime, the race was 607.5 miles, the longest Cup race ever in mileage.
Social Spotlight
— Brad Keselowski’s wife, Paige Keselowski, mentioning the family of the fallen soldier whose name was on the windshield.
They Said It
“You just make the best decision you can based on the information you have. When you are leading the race like that, people behind you are going to do the exact opposite of what you do. That was the situation we were put in. Alan made the decision, we stuck with it, and it didn't work out.” — Chase Elliott
