CHASE ELLIOTT RACING PHOTO
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet and the No. 17
HendrickCars.com Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, met with the media
in advance of running double duty in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series
at Darlington Raceway.
Media Availability Quotes:
At what point in the year, or maybe now, is it when you start assessing
who’s strong and who’s kind of legit championship contenders and teams,
that kind of thing? Is it this now or is it later in the year?
“I think it’s all year, for sure. It’s still very early. It definitely
is early in the season. It’s going to be the same crowd. It’s the same
crowd every year.. we don’t have to beat around the bush. It’s going to
be the same people that are going to be good in the last 15 weeks of the
year. The people that are good right now are just going to get better.
That’s just how it is. It will be the same crowd, as always, when we get
down to it.”
You’ve been solid here in Cup but not necessarily spectacular compared
to some other tracks. Is there something about Darlington perhaps that
you’ve struggled to crack the code with here?
“Yeah, for sure. I love Darlington. I just haven’t gotten it to love
me back. Maybe this week. Maybe I can talk it into liking me this
week.”
What is it about this racetrack that we see even veterans struggle to
master that high lane here more than anywhere else? We see the skill of
Homestead and other places, but what is it about this track specifically
that makes running against the wall so challenging?
“It’s very similar to Homestead in a lot of ways. I think what makes
it different here is that Homestead has a very gradual entry. If you
enter on the wall, it has this nice radius to the corner. And this
place, the wall is kind of choppy and makes it hard to get against it
just right at the perfect time. You’ve got the safer barrier that juts
out there in (turn) three. All those things kind of play a role.
Obviously, the tire wear throughout a run here is extreme, just like it
is at Homestead, too. It’s always a challenge, but I think probably just
the radius of the corners makes it a little different.”
Looking back last weekend at Martinsville, I was just curious — some
people said it was still kind of hard to pass, even with the tires that
were wearing more. What’s your thoughts on the state of short track
racing after quite a few now?
“I thought it was better. It seemed like it’s better. You definitely
have to be really mindful of how you either take care of your tire or
don’t at the beginning of the run. But I think we’re in a better place
than we were in the past. When I look at it, I think the tire is a big
piece of that. I think I told you all that last week — it seems like it
matters quite a lot. It makes sense that that’s what touches the ground,
and that’s a big deal. The car plays a role, for sure, and I think it
has had improvements. But yeah, I don’t know that it’s where it exactly
needs to be, but I’m just not exactly sure how much better we’re going
to get it. We can only piece together so much. But look, motorsports is
an aerodynamic game, and I think we just all need to understand that
that’s just part of it now. We’re not going to run those tails at these
places all the time. I don’t care if you’re going 70 mph in the center
of the corner or 170 –- like it matters a lot, and clean air is going
to be king. You just hope that there’s enough difference and enough
challenge behind the wheel that you can do something different early in
a run to make a difference in your car late, and I think as long as we
achieve that, then we’re doing all we can do. I thought we did more of
that in Martinsville. I think we could still have a step more of that. I
personally thought the tire felt really good. I thought the tire was in
a pretty good place.
We’d just love some more power. I think if you give some more power,
you give guys an opportunity to make more mistakes and be harder on the
tire. We have a bunch of gears to choose from, so you can downshift or
not downshift, and I just think that gives you an opportunity to really
screw up bigger, which I think would be good. If you can add to that and
just make it to where guys who really are mindful of every aspect of the
run would excel or fail.”
Obviously, a few years into this new car, there will be discussions
about what’s next for the series. I was curious, now that we are in this
spec car box, do you envision that probably being just the standard
moving forward into the future generations?
“It seems that way. I don’t have a crystal ball by any means, but I
think that we’re pretty deep down the road of the spec parts and the
policing of things that way. Yeah, I think that’s the way NASCAR wants
to go with it. I think they’ve made that very loud and clear, that this
is the direction. I think everybody’s understanding of that.
What’s next? I don’t know. I think it’s in an OK place right now, but
whatever changes come down the road, I don’t think it’s going to be much
different than what we have now. So with that being said, everyone is
just going to continuously get closer and closer and closer every year.
You’ll certainly still have your standouts, don’t get me wrong. There
will always be a way to have a small advantage, but that advantage will
become even more minute than it is today. We’re going to see more of
that as time goes because there are no secrets in that garage. I don’t
know if you all know this, but you have guys that leave one team and go
to another team the next year.. like there are no secrets in there.
Everyone knows everything about everybody all the time — what you’ve
got going on with your car, who ran what setup last fall at all these
places.. that’s just what it is. That’s just the world we live in.
Charlotte is a small area, and the garage is even a smaller group of
people. That’s just part of it. It just makes it more difficult to find
little advantages here and there. You have to make sure that you’re
perfect. You’ve got to be perfect. You’ve got to be really good on
Saturday; have a good pit box on Sunday, not lose any spots on pit road.
You’re just going to see more and more of that, in my opinion.”
I don’t remember the exact number, but I think it’s around 19 cars this
weekend that are not running a throwback paint scheme. I’m sure you’ve
seen the talk on social media on that the throwback weekend has lost its
luster. I’m curious on where you stand on that. Do you feel like this
weekend has lost luster over time?
“I thought I lost it about four or five years ago, so I was way too
early to that conversation, I think.
Not to be a downer — I joked about this years ago, but if we kept going
down the road, we’re going to be throwing it back to me in 2018. At some
point, I think we’ve got to chill on it a little bit. I think we’ve rode
the horse to death, and we tend to do that a little bit too much.”
Chase, growing up with your dad around the sport, seeing how drivers
race back then, where did the sport go wrong with that? Is it the points
format today? Is it the cars being too safe? The guys being so far
removed these days from anything happening? Where do you think the sport
went wrong with what we’re seeing out there?
“In what way?”
Just what we saw last Saturday in the Xfinity Series, especially with
the younger drivers..
“I don’t know how to answer that in a professional manner, so I’m just
probably not going to. There’s a lot of reasons and parts and pieces to
that, and why I think it has come to that. You’ve got to sit back and
kind of look at it from a 1,000 feet view and understand why things are
the way they are.. the points, who’s driving and the paths. It’s a
little bit of everything, so I don’t think we have time to go into all
of it. For me, at the end of the day, we can sit here and talk about how
embarrassing it was last week, or we can sit here and try to encourage
guys to do better. So let’s just encourage people to do better and try
to set a better example on Sunday’s. I really feel like throughout the
entirety of this year, the Sunday races have been really good from that
perspective. I thought that race at COTA – man, you couldn’t have a
better example of how to race. And not just 20-year veterans, but those
guys that were racing for the win, you had William (Byron) and
Christopher (Bell), guys who were on the younger side of life in the
series, that set an incredible example, I thought, for everyone else. I
think we just need to watch that stuff and appreciate that more. We
don’t have to have side-by-side crashes to the line to have a good race.
We can have a good race and it go green to the end, or whatever. I think
we need to celebrate some of those other things a little more than we
celebrate the chaos, and I think that’s part of the reason why we went
wrong.”
60 percent of your finishes at Bristol have been in the top-10. What do
you attribute to that consistency?
“ Well I like Bristol.. I think that’s number one. I enjoy going up
there. I think Alan (Gustafson) had a really good grasp on that track,
really before I got there to work with him. And I think just over time,
we have developed a solid base of the feel that I want, and the feel
that he knows that I need and want in the car. So I would say a
combination of all those things together. I thought we had a really
solid race there last fall. I thought we were right in the hunt with
Kyle (Larson) and had a shot at it there. I thought that was fun. I hope
we can do more of that. I look forward to getting up there and trying to
piece together a good day.”
Do you have anything exciting planned for the off-week?
“No, nothing exciting. No races or anything scheduled. I’m going to
try to enjoy it. It’s a long road after that all the way to the end this
year. I really try to reset; get the batteries recharged and ready to go
to the final stretch.”
Chase, do you use the cool shirt? If you do, is there a race in
particular that comes to mind where you’re really thankful to have it?
“I’m kind of one of the guys that goes back and forth. Some weeks I
use it, some weeks I don’t.
Certainly, as we get to these summer months, you’re going to want it,
for sure. I’m trying to think of a good example. This race, honestly. I
mean, I feel like this race is always the first hot one of the year, it
seems like. Certainly, the 500 mile race in the fall here.. it’s still
pretty hot when we get back here. There are a bunch of races that you’re
thankful to have that. Some weeks, not necessarily at all. You can kind
of get through it. And other weeks, I do think it certainly helps your
fatigue level when you get to the end of these things.”
The second thing I wanted to ask was — going back to what you said
about trying to get Darlington to love you back, how much of it is
circumstance of trying to get a finish the team deserves, or is there
something you’re chasing here, balance or feel, that you just haven’t
hit on?
“I was just joking, it’s totally me. It’s not the track. It’s me, not
you, right? (laugh). It is definitely totally on me. I think just the
feel that I need in the car. It’s been a hunt to try and find that and
find what I want. I thought we had a nice week of prep this week; have a
good game plan, I hope, and just kind of start practice on a high note.
This Xfinity race – it’s been a year since I’ve driven one of those
things. Jumping back and forth, I always find it to be a little bit of a
challenge. Looking forward to getting going over there. Hopefully those
laps will help me just get kind of comfortable with the racetrack;
visualize things how I think they need to be. And then when we get out
there and in Cup practice, try to get going and get going quick.”
It’s certainly not uncharted waters for you guys at Hendrick to be
atop the standings early in the season. All four of you guys are solidly
top-10 in points. What do you attribute most to your ability
consistently to get off to strong starts this season?
“The company as a whole has done a great job over the winter to build
really, really fast race cars. I think there’s some areas that we can be
better. I really don’t think we’re at our best, really any of us,
honestly. So it’s encouraging to see that. We can pretty confidently say
that – hey, these are flaws. These are areas that can certainly have
improvement. That’s an exciting place to be, in my opinion, because
there’s so much more racing left this year and opportunities to get
where we want to be, and I think we can do that. The company’s in a good
spot. Everybody’s pulling in the same direction, and we’ve got to keep
that up.”
You mentioned how there’s a lot of movement in the garage these days,
but your driver lineup, you guys have stayed intact now for half a
decade. As the veteran driver in that stable, how would you say building
that chemistry year-to-year with your teammates has benefited you guys
to get to this point? “I just think we have a really good working
relationship. None of us are best friends off the racetrack. You know,
we don’t hang out.. not because we don’t like each other, we just kind
of run in different circles. But we have a really good working
relationship when we show up and we have our meetings. I think
everybody’s open and honest and willing to help one another. We show
each other a lot of respect on the racetrack, just kind of how it should
be. Those guys give me respect. I’m going to give it back at least that
much and probably then some.. that’s just how I am. I enjoy being
around guys like that who are hungry and want to get the job done for
their team, but also kind of have the bigger picture.. the big picture
of just the company in mind and are willing to help us all get better
together and be stronger as a four-car stable.”