FORT WORTH, Tex. – After another disaster on the race track, Chase Elliott has a crystal clear vision of his only path to a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship.

On lap nine of Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, Elliott’s No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet broke loose as he was running a higher lane in turns one and two. The car slammed into the outside wall, severely damaging the rear of the Camaro.

Elliott’s crew made repairs, beating the time limit under NASCAR’s damaged vehicle policy by roughly ten seconds. Elliott completed 312-of-334 laps and finished 32nd, a result that left him 78 points below the current cut line for the Championship 4 Round of the Playoffs.

In other words, Elliott must win next Sunday at ISM Raceway at Phoenix if he wants to race for the series title at Homestead-Miami Speedway. There is no other option.

“I made a mistake, got loose and crashed,” Elliott said. “I really hate that happened. Obviously, it’s not good and not what you’re looking for. It’s just my mistake and there’s really no excuse for it. It’s just all eyes on Phoenix.

“Obviously, today was very self-inflicted. I made a mistake that there’s really no excuse for, and that’s what you get. You make mistakes, you put yourself in a bad position, and that was all on me today. I hate that it happened, but it did, and we’ll just go on to Phoenix and try to get a win out there.”