Chase Elliott hopes to avoid the spin cycle at Talladega
TALLADEGA, Ala.—After nine races in 2019 without a win, Chevrolet would take a victory anywhere.
Chase Elliott is in the same boat. The Hendrick Motorsports driver, who pilots the No. 9 Mountain Dew/Little Ceasar's Chevy, scored the last three wins for the Bow-tie Brigade—and three of the four victories for the manufacturer in 2018.
Elliott last visited Victory Lane 14 races ago. The best word the 23-year-old could find to size up his 2019 season so far is “decent."
“It’s definitely early,” Elliott said. “Thus far, I feel like we’ve had some really good runs--runs that I feel like we were capable of winning an event in, and then we’ve had runs where we weren’t even close.
“How you summarize that up? I really don’t know. But we’ve had some shots at them, and we’ve had some days when we didn’t have a chance. That’s kind of where we’ve been.”
The second-generation driver knows the secret to success at Talladega Superspeedway, where the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will race this weekend.
“Not crash,” Elliott said with a smile.
That’s easier said than done. A driver’s record at Talladega and Daytona is seldom indicative of his or her talent. There aren't two other tracks on the Cup circuit where luck is as much of a factor as it is at the superspeedways. Elliott has been a stud when it comes to qualifying at 2.66-mile Talladega, where he leads all drivers with an average starting position of 4.2.
His average finish of 16.2 is better than most, considering that he has crashed out twice and has been running on the lead lap in only half his starts. Still, he has two top-five finishes—including a career-high third in this race last year.
“I feel like I’ve crashed a lot and feel like I've had cars that were more than capable of winning probably 85, 90 percent of the races we’ve been in,” Elliott said. “So, no, I don’t think I’ve done a very good job at all in those events and just finishing and putting yourself in the right position.
“There have been days when I feel like did put myself in good positions, and I felt like I made good decisions,and it didn’t work out; but there were also more days than not when I feel like I didn’t. It’s hard to put all that together at the right time, but hopefully we’ll get it right one day.”
Sunday’s Geico 500 could be the great equalizer with the new aerodynamic package NASCAR will debut this weekend. Talladega and Daytona can no longer be called restrictor-plate tracks, thanks to the use of tapered spacers instead of plates. Awithing to the spacers is expected to add 100 horsepower to the engines. The spoilers will increase to nine inches tall from eight, and a one-inch bolt on the track bar mount will lift the rear of the car to create more drag. Goodyear is also introducing new left-side tires.
When it comes to predicting what fans might see on Sunday, Elliott is at just as much of a loss as his peers—Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson and Daniel Hemric—who tested the new package at Daytona International Speedway on the Monday and Tuesday following the Daytona 500.
“I didn’t get to test there after Daytona,” Elliott said. “I didn’t drive the car. I really don’t know. I feel like a lot of guys are questioning it as well; and not only that, but after they left, rules were changed since then. So honestly, I think until we get there it’s really hard to say. I kind of hope it’s something different.
“Personally, I don’t like how things have kind of evolved with being buddies with certain guys and whatnot. The style of racing that we had, I felt like was good, when everybody was pushing and doing what they had to do. Since everybody is not doing that as much anymore and really staying true to their partners and their groups, my feelings wouldn’t be hurt if it changed to that dynamic and looked a little different. So, hopefully that’s the case.”
If Elliott seems a bit frustrated by the alliances that have formed among drivers for the three manufacturers at Talladega and Daytona, it’s understandable. There’s strength in numbers, as Ford has proven by winning the last seven races at Talladega. Chevrolet has won just one of the events— formally known as restrictor-plate races—in the last 14 attempts.
“The way the manufacturers and everybody have really changed the game of plate racing,” Elliott said, “I’m not really sure what the right answer is on it. I don’t really like what it’s done to the racing, personally; but it is what it is and everybody is being true to what matters, I guess, in their camps, and that’s kind of the position that we’re all put in, unfortunately. I don’t think that’s the way everybody wants to be. It’s certainly not the way I want to be. But that’s the position we’re put in now.
“We’ve made some efforts in doing so at our camp at Chevrolet, and I think that’s obviously what your opponents are doing elsewhere, and I expect that we’ll continue to try to help one another. You can orchestrate that, and you can plan it and talk about it for weeks, months and years ahead of time, and when it comes down to it, all that stuff can change at the end of those races.”
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