By JENNA FRYER

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The odds were stacked against Chase Elliott as he lined up eighth in overtime at Kansas Speedway in a pivotal NASCAR playoff race.

He had five Toyota drivers ahead of him including Denny Hamlin, who had dominated all of Sunday until a slew of late cautions turned the race upside down.

Even so, not even Elliott’s own crew believed NASCAR’s most popular driver could steal the win and lock himself into the third round of the playoffs.

“No. No,” crew chief Alan Gustafson said when asked if he thought Elliott had a chance at the start of overtime. “I’m not like, ‘Oh, damn, we’ve got a good shot.’ A couple restarts didn’t go our way, and yeah, you get a little frustrated. The percentage of winning decreases. Did I think that we had a great shot there?

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