Chase Elliott is no longer content with being close. After his record tying seventh second-place finish without a win, he was eliminated from the playoffs and is still looking to break through.
After getting his revenge on Denny Hamlin, Elliott did say he thought he make strides in his growth as a driver, and now people know that he is not someone to mess with.
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But revenge was not sweet enough to erase the sting of coming up short.
"It's just very disappointing, and I just hate that -- I just hate so bad for my team," Elliott said after the race via Sporting News. "They've been so close to winning a handful of races the past couple years, and just, like I told them after the race, at some point I've got to figure out how to close better, and I take responsibility for that.
"I felt like I gave it my all today, and we'll try to go to Homestead next week, finish the season as strong as we can and then get ready to come at them next year as hard as possible."
Elliott is only 21 years old, so he has plenty of time to learn how to win, but coming so close so many times has to be torture.
He at least has plenty of fan support to get him through the disappointment.
"Yeah, that means a lot to me to have great support and great fans," Elliott said. "You know, I want people to pull for whoever they want to pull for and it be genuine, and if that's me, then I certainly will take all the help I can get, so I appreciate each and every one of the folks here that came out, that had the right hats and shirts on and even the ones that didn't. Happy to have them, and hopefully we can -- I just want to make them proud someday and tried to do it today."
He is no longer racing for the championship, but he can still go for that first win at Homestead.