Chase Elliott thought his car was damaged severely in a lap 107 wreck in Monday’s 1000Bulbs.com 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

But timely cautions and exceptional work by his pit crew not only allowed Elliott to continue in the race but also to salvage an eighth-place finish. Nevertheless, he leaves Talladega tenth in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standings, 22 points below the cut line for the next round of the Playoffs.

In all probability, Elliott will have to win on Sunday at Kansas to advance to the Round of 8.

“We had our ups and downs for sure today,” Elliott said. “Got caught up in that crash, but my guys did a nice job of putting it back together as best we could. Just head out west to Kansas now and try to get a win out there. That’s about all we can do now.

“You have to have the mindset to go out there and control what we can control and do everything we can to get a win. That’s all we can do.”