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Chase Elliott, the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion, finished second on Wednesday night, his best Super Late Model result of the season. In the 13th annual Battle at Berlin, Bubba Pollard cruised to victory by a margin of 1.45 seconds to Chase Elliott.
Pollard had performed brilliantly in the race in Berlin almost every year that he had competed, but he had never been successful. After driving 58 laps and finishing second to Erik Jones in 2016, he lost out again the following year after being passed by Brian Campbell late.
With Shotko outlasting him on two late restarts, Pollard took the lead for most of the remaining competition and won his first Battle at Berlin championship. A few weeks before, Pollard ensured that the car he drove was prepared for the Berlin banks by winning a 75-lap feature as a Battle tune-up.
Chase Elliott battled through some early difficulties while familiarizing himself with the 7/16-mile in Marne following a difficult weekend at Michigan International Speedway. Elliott was able to pass Shotko, but he had to settle for a runner-up place again for the third time.
Here is the final race result at Berlin:
1. Bubba Pollard
2. Chase Elliott
3. Evan Shotko
4. Josh Berry
5. Kyle Crump
6. Dylan Stovall
7. William Byron
8. Cole Butcher
9. Joe Bush
10. Austin Hull
11. Erik Jones
12. Kevin Cremonesi
13. Brian Campbell
14. Ken Wobma
15. Tyler Roahrig
16. Brian Tillema
17. Boris Jurkovic
18. Gio Ruggiero
19. Chase Burda
20. Michael Simko
21. Derek Kneeland
22. Andrew Gresel
23. Wes Griffith
24. Carson Hocevar | DNF
25. Tony Elrod | DNF
26. Derek Griffith | DNF
27. Blake Rowe | DNF
28. Andrew Scheid | DNF
29. Jacob Gomes | DNF
30. Trevor Sanborn | DNF
31. Keith Herp | DNF
32. Scott Thomas | DNF
33. Jesse Love | DNF
34. Chris Munson | DNF
Chase Elliott is running out of time to secure a playoff spot this year
With only four more playoff spots available, Chase Elliott is currently 22nd in the points standings; he must win to join the other 12 champions who qualified for the playoffs this year.
Elliott had a setback in March when he underwent surgery on his left leg as a result of a snowboarding mishap in Colorado, which forced him to miss the Pennzoil 400 in Las Vegas the following day as well as the following five races.
When he eventually made a comeback, NASCAR penalized him for one race after discovering that he intentionally damaged Denny Hamlin in the Coca-Cola 600. He is in a vulnerable position for the playoffs as a result of the missing races and a few questionable performances.
In each of his first seven seasons, he has made the playoffs, winning it all three years ago and placing fourth the previous two. This year, there is a chance that he might miss qualifying for the playoffs unless he secures a win.
