MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) — Kevin Harvick’s practically good season got here to a spinning and sudden halt Sunday when he was bounced from the playoffs in a surprising upset at Martinsville Speedway.

Chase Elliott gained the high-stakes race to earn his first berth within the championship 4. It knocked Harvick, a nine-race winner and the common season champion, from the title spherical after a surprising collapse and a season spent as the favourite to win the Cup crown.

Harvick was mediocre at Martinsville and fell a lap off the tempo after a flat tire. He spent many of the race under the cutline, desperately chasing factors at NASCAR’s oldest and smallest speedway. He was racing for the fourth and ultimate slot within the subject, making an attempt to catch Denny Hamlin or Brad Keselowski, in a three-race push for the one ultimate spot.

Harvick was one level under the cutline when Elliott crossed the end line with one automobile forward of him to seize the required marker. However that one automobile was Kyle Busch — Hamlin’s teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing — and Busch wasn’t going to make it simple.

Harvick tried to knock Busch out of his method in a failed determined effort. Each automobiles spun and Harvick missed making the ultimate 4 by a single level.

“I attempted to run into the door of the 18 as a last-ditch effort, making an attempt to realize a degree,” Harvick mentioned. “We fought for every part, simply got here up brief.”

Elliott, Keselowski and Hamlin will race Joey Logano, who had already clinched his berth, in subsequent week’s finale at Phoenix. It is a matchup of a pair of Fords from Crew Penske in opposition to Hamlin’s Toyota and Elliott, the primary Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet driver to make the finale since Jimmie Johnson gained his seventh and ultimate title in 2016.

Hamlin, a seven-time winner this season who went race-for-race with Harvick all 12 months, lamented not getting a shot at his rival in Phoenix.

“I really feel dangerous for Kevin, they most likely deserve higher than that,” Hamlin mentioned. “The whole lot you do for eight innings does not matter if you do not have an excellent ninth inning.”

Harvick was eradicated together with Alex Bowman, Kurt Busch and Martin Truex Jr., who battled for the win till a late unfastened wheel ended his shot.