Chase Elliott cut a despondent look after a backmarker qualifying at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Nonetheless, the Hendrick Motorsports driver hoped to 'grind it out' and launch a comeback for Sunday's Mobil 1 301.Elliott rounded out the top-20 during Friday's practice and recorded a laptime of 30.047 seconds. He was the slowest among the HMS stable, and continued to be so during qualifying as well.He qualified P27 with a lap time of 29.659 seconds, a dismal placing compared to William Byron and Alex Bowman's top-10 starts. Kyle Larson was off the pace as well, coming in at P16 with a lap time of 29.496 seconds.Reflecting upon the same, Elliott had this to say about his prospects for Sunday,"Just grind it out, man, try to keep the right rear tire on it and make the most of whatever it is. So we'll fight to the death.""I thought we were respectable in practice, so unfortunately, yeah, it was what it was. But yeah, maybe it'll be better tomorrow," he added.Chase Elliott currently stands just 5 points above the playoff cutline. The 29-year-old was among the six DNFs from last week's Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. He placed a lowly 38th, but was able to scrap by without getting knocked out."There's nothing to lose for us": Chase Elliott on his playoff chancesChase Elliott offered a blunt take on his playoff hopes after a disastrous result at Bristol Motor Speedway. While his third place finish at Gateway kept his post-season hopes alive, it was the misfortune of his playoff rivals that ultimately spared him.In a recent interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Elliott shared his thoughts on the upcoming Round of 12."It worked out, fortunately. Got really lucky with that, no question.. I just feel like, yeah, you’re kind of in a spot where, ‘Man, we really didn’t deserve to be here based on the week before, let’s go and make the very most of it," he said."I just feel like there’s nothing to lose for us at this point. We’ve got to make something happen, get some life and get our heads down and just grind it out these next three weeks,” he added.Chase Elliott's playoff rivals finished alongside him at Bristol. Bubba Wallace, who's currently a spot below Elliott in the standings, finished 34th with a DNF of his own. The only driver to finish worse than Elliott was Josh Berry, yet another playoff contender.Team Penske's Austin Cindric and Joey Logano currently line-up outside the playoff cutline, but the latter has managed to qualify on pole for Sunday's race. If Logano can grab a surprise race win at the Loudon track, Elliott will be at risk of elimination yet again.