What a crash! With the stakes higher than ever at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the last thing Chase Elliott wanted was an early retirement. However, he was forced to contend with that at the 2024 South Point 400 after being involved in a multi-car wreck in the opening Round of 8 playoff race. With a spot in the Championship 4 on the line, the Hendrick Motorsports driver was hoping for a clean race at the 1.5-mile track, but his hopes were shattered at the start of Stage 2.

The Lap 89 incident brought about a premature end for all three drivers involved in the wreck. Refusing to take the blame for Tyler Reddick’s scary flip, Chase Elliott reflected on the game-changing event in the post-race interview.

Chase Elliott rues missed opportunity at South Point 400

The chaos unfolded in a blink. Tyler Reddick’s Toyota barreled through the frontstretch grass on Lap 89 of the South Point 400. Coming off the restart in Stage 2, Reddick, Chase Elliott, and Martin Truex Jr. got tangled exiting Turn 4. The aftermath saw Blaney and Brad Keselowski caught in the wreck too. As Keselowski slammed into the outside wall, his car ricocheted back, colliding headfirst into Reddick, while Elliott spun wildly across the track. The mayhem ended with Truex’s car flipping over before landing back on its wheels—shocking fans and wrecking race strategies in an instant.

Reflecting on the incident after the race, Chase Elliott told FOX Sports journalist Bob Pockrass, “Yeah, I mean, the 45 was coming up a big run up-top and I don’t think Martin knew that. He was kind of running as if we were two wide and once I recognized there won’t be enough room, I tried to bail. There was just nowhere to bail, it was too late. I don’t know, I need to sit down and take a look at it. I was personally trying to get out of the situation, a little too late at that point. Sucks but the Chevy was really really good. Best we’ve been out here probably in the new car. Bad day for that.”

After the contact, Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney were forced to make multiple pit stops to fix the damage to his Chevrolet Camaro. Elliott went in for extended repairs on Lap 107 and was subsequently cleared for the rest of the race after making minimum speed. However, the damage was already done by that point as the Hendrick Motorsports driver resumed his race on Lap 131, 26 laps behind his competitors and in 33rd place on the grid. He managed to complete almost 100 more laps before being forced to retire for the second time this season.

Going into the race, Chase Elliott knew that getting a result at Las Vegas Motor Speedway would be crucial to keeping his title hopes alive. The 28-year-old was nine points behind the elimination cutline ahead of the South Point 400 with just four races remaining before the season ends. As for Blaney, he limped across the finish line, ending his race eight laps down in 32nd place. Elliott didn’t fare much better, finishing 33rd, 37 laps off the pace, while Reddick found himself in 35th.

“We’re still alive,” said Blaney, who now sits 47 points below the cutline. “It’s definitely not the best of days. It was just a rough weekend overall. I don’t know what to do about it, to be honest with you, running over something and having a hole in it in practice. And then just getting clipped by the 6 (Keselowski) there. I thought I could get around him and didn’t know if he’d come up the race track and then by the time he was kind of on the track it was too late. I got clipped and bent everything all to hell, so it was just a rough weekend. We still have two more weeks, so we’re definitely not out of it.”

However, speaking of Elliott, after securing the worst result of his season so far, he will need nothing less than a miracle to make it to Phoenix Raceway. With a 53-point margin, all Elliott can do is hope for a win at Homestead-Miami or Martinsville to have a shot at the Championship 4 race.

Tyler Reddick reflects on Las Vegas’ heartbreak

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The stage was set for Tyler Reddick. The regular series champion finished second in qualifying at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and had the perfect chance of securing his first playoff victory of the season. He couldn’t have gotten off to a better start at the 1.5-mile track, leading nine laps to win the opening stage and overtaking Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell in the process. However, everything changed at the start of Stage 2, forcing the 23XI Racing driver to a 35th-place finish, the worst outcome of his season so far after completing just 89 laps in the high-stakes race.

Sharing his views about the on-track incident, Reddick said, “Being myself on a mile and a half, being aggressive — by the time I realized I was in trouble, the 19 (Martin Truex Jr) started sliding and the 9 (Chase Elliott) was coming up, and I was pretty much already on their outside at that point, with nowhere to really go. I needed to make the decision earlier when I saw them sliding to be more conservative to avoid an incident — just not who I am, but it is unfortunate. It took us out of the race.”

With two more races remaining, Chase Elliott and Tyler Reddick have some work to do. Both drivers are currently below the elimination cutline, knowing that victory in Homestead-Miami and Martinsville is their best chance of making it to Phoenix. Will they be able to deliver clutch performances and keep their championship hopes alive? Time will tell.

As things stand, the odds will be stacked against them to get back into Victory Lane in the upcoming weeks, but stranger things have happened in the sport.