THE MODERATOR: We have now been joined by this afternoon\u2019s NASCAR Cup series race winner here at Kansas Speedway, Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Chase, that was a wild last restart. Can you kind of talk us through what was going through your head? Did you feel optimistic that you were going to get up there?<\/p>\n
CHASE ELLIOTT: I felt like anything can happen, but you\u2019re winning up tenth on a green and white checkered, I wouldn\u2019t say your odds are high at that point. I\u2019ve seen crazier things, but my mindset was just to try to build up as much momentum as I could and hope lanes, hope things kind of went my way, and fortunately they did.<\/p>\n
I felt like I got about as far as I was going to get off of two. I had momentum on the white, and then I saw the 11 and 23 racing hard in three, and I thought, man, if I just stick to the bottom here, I might at least be three wide with them off of four. That\u2019s kind of what I was shooting for.<\/p>\n
I really don\u2019t know, I have to go back and watch it. I haven\u2019t seen it. Just I saw them running there really hard. My eyes went to just do the best I could do to paint the bottom as fast as I could paint it, and I really kind of quit watching them. Then I saw the 11 coming back down, and obviously ran into him. I think he was trying to cover my run, but he was too late at that point.<\/p>\n
Yeah, just stayed with it and beat him back to the line. So we\u2019ll take it.<\/p>\n
Q.\u00a0You guys have had so many situations this year where like Alan will make a call and then the caution comes out at the wrong time and he gets thwarted. It seemed like that might have happened again when you have your four tires, caution comes out, but it all worked out this time. Were you thinking like, man, we got screwed on this again? Or did you still have hope at that point that the four tires could help you get back to the front on the next restart?<\/p>\n
CHASE ELLIOTT: I felt like every time we ran a few corners our advantage was going away a little bit. They were really hard to get clean. The tires, I was working them really hard those last couple, and especially the last one, and they were just difficult to get cleaned off to have grip like a set of stickers would have.<\/p>\n
Yeah, I just feel like every time we scuffed them, I felt the advantage from two to four was getting smaller. But once they cleaned off in that last green and white checkered, I did feel like I had an advantage again the last lap or something.<\/p>\n
It was just tough. Like a couple of those restarts that we lost spots on, guys would dive into the bottom, and then they would catch the timing line and the caution would come out, so you lose a couple spots that probably wouldn\u2019t have been lost spots if you would have just seen what happened at the end of the next straightaway.<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s part of it. That\u2019s part of giving up a row to have the preferred lane. We see that a lot, and that\u2019s just the risk you take. Sometimes it works out in your favor, and sometimes it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Q.\u00a0Were you aware that Denny didn\u2019t have power steering there at the end? And if that would have mattered.<\/p>\n
CHASE ELLIOTT: I\u2019m not sure, and that\u2019s always a difficult thing, right? How much power steering? Was it completely zero? Was it a little bit? Was it three-quarter? Was it half? Only he knows that.<\/p>\n
They were talking about it a little bit out there, but they had made mention that he\u2019d had power steering issues on a couple restarts, maybe like a restart mid-race or three-quarters of the way through the race or something. I remember them talking about it, but it didn\u2019t look visually like he had an issue, so I didn\u2019t really think anything of it.<\/p>\n
Certainly could have played a role into the last lap if he had a big issue like that.<\/p>\n
Q.\u00a0You\u2019ve won races in a variety of ways. As far as the cool factor or awesome factor, is this one any more cool or any more awesome just because of the way it\u2019s done?<\/p>\n
CHASE ELLIOTT: I think the most cool and awesome factor is to just dominate. That\u2019s the best way to put a stamp on a win, in my opinion, just being a competitor. I do think there are days and moments like today that bring a definite level of excitement for everyone. Like I didn\u2019t know what was going to happen going into turn three any more than anybody else did.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m excited to go back and watch it, honestly. You live this stuff and you live these moments. Obviously I know what my vantage point was, and I remember the things that I was looking at when I was looking at them, but I don\u2019t have the full picture. So I\u2019m excited to go back and just see what it all looked like. I was making split-second decisions based off the information I had in front of me at that time, right?<\/p>\n
Yeah, so I definitely think there\u2019s a level of excitement to that one that I\u2019m not sure I\u2019ve experienced in the Cup series to this point. I\u2019ve been on the opposing end of some excitement for sure.<\/p>\n
But yeah, I don\u2019t know. At least in my Cup career. I could be wrong on that. I\u2019d have to go back and think about it. It was definitely a cool one. Any win, though, is great. I\u2019m not going to complain about it.<\/p>\n
Q.\u00a0You just kind of mentioned it, but would this be considered, at least for you, more exciting than any of your typical wins considering how it happened?<\/p>\n
CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, it was from my perspective for sure. There was a lot going on those last couple laps. Yeah, like I mentioned, I was just trying to put myself in positions to have good momentum, and opportunities opened up, and we were able to capitalize, so I\u2019ll take it.<\/p>\n
I talked about it on the front stretch, and I\u2019ll say it again in here. I felt like this weekend was a success, whether we won today or not. I was really proud of how we were prepared, how we handled yesterday, put ourselves in a good position, got our pit crew a great pit stall on pit road, got to showcase their talents, how good they are. We weren\u2019t the dominant car on the long run, but we had good short-run pace and kept ourselves in the fight.<\/p>\n
Like I told you guys a thousand times, you put yourself in position, you\u2019re going to get your turn. And fortunately for us, today was our turn.<\/p>\n
Q.\u00a0You kind of mentioned to me yesterday about at least your approach going to the ROVAL if you\u2019re in the points situation. Your plan was to maybe flip stages. Does that change it now to go more playoff points?<\/p>\n
CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, I think we run the race to try and win it for sure. Flip stages and points doesn\u2019t matter at this juncture. For us \u2014 I mean, if we\u2019re competitive. If we\u2019re not competitive and we can get a stage point, a stage win and get the bonus point that way, then of course. But assuming you have pace is kind of how I was answering those questions. If we\u2019re slow, then that don\u2019t matter anyway.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve got to go be fast, and if we\u2019re fast, at least we can run our strategy how we would typically do it to have a shot to win.<\/p>\n
Q.\u00a0In the Next Gen era, this seems like this has been one of the consistently best tracks for racing. What is it about this track that allows you guys to make moves and kind of put on a good show for everybody that maybe other tracks don\u2019t do as consistently?<\/p>\n
CHASE ELLIOTT: It\u2019s a really complicated answer that it would take me, I think, a very long time to explain how I would want to explain it. I think the best thing is just chalk it up is it\u2019s shaped really nicely. The entries are wide. You have a lot of options to run different lanes, and the surface is really smooth too, I think to put it simply.<\/p>\n
This car likes places where you can enter in different lanes, and I think where the struggles come in are when you\u2019re stuck behind someone in a really small preferred lane on corner entry. Then your options dwindle, and that\u2019s when the challenges begin.<\/p>\n
This place, just the way it\u2019s shaped, the way the surface is, everything just suits it about as perfectly as we could have a track do that.<\/p>\n
Q.\u00a0I just want to be clear about something. TV sort of made it sound like you door slammed Denny there at the end. Did you have any contact at all? We haven\u2019t seen a great replay.<\/p>\n
CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, we did make contact off of four. Yeah, we were pretty much door to door, the best I can remember. I was coming on the bottom with a pretty good head of steam. I think he saw me coming, and he was just trying to cover my run. I think he was a little late to the party.<\/p>\n
It was no harm, no foul. I\u2019m very confident he would tell you the same thing.<\/p>\n
Q.\u00a0(No microphone)?<\/p>\n
CHASE ELLIOTT: Well, of course not, no. Who would? No, no, I was full commit.<\/p>\n
Q.\u00a0You got a front row seat to the contact between Denny and Bubba. What was your take on that? Just hard racing, somebody leaning on somebody else?<\/p>\n
CHASE ELLIOTT: Honestly, probably not fair for me to comment. I was coming down the back, and yes, I was right behind them. Once I saw that they were fixing to ship it in there, my eyes went to where I needed to go, so I quit watching them.<\/p>\n
I knew I had to paint that white line really precise, and I had to hit it really \u2014 it\u2019s a pretty small window. I don\u2019t know how wide that white line is, but it\u2019s not very big. I knew I had to get my lefts on it, so my eyes went there, and I have no idea what happened with them.<\/p>\n
Q.\u00a0Chase, this sport can be stressful. You guys put a lot into it. At the end of that race, are you just so focused that like maybe you don\u2019t get to just enjoy driving? Are you having fun in those moments, or are you just locked in, I\u2019m going to try my best to make something happen?<\/p>\n
CHASE ELLIOTT: You\u2019re locked in. I think there are moments where your car\u2019s driving really good, and it\u2019s doing all the things that you want it to do, and you\u2019re like, man, this is great. This is exactly how I want the car to feel.<\/p>\n
I think in most cases just the competitor inside you is always just locked into like how can I be better? What can I do to, if you run in fifth, how do you get to fourth? If you run in second, how do you get to first? If you\u2019re leading, how do you extend your lead? How can I drive my car in a way that\u2019s going to be beneficial through the long run?<\/p>\n
There\u2019s always a what\u2019s next when you\u2019re competing, and I\u2019m as guilty of that as probably anybody.<\/p>\n
Q.\u00a0When you look at trying to win a championship, just what is the meaning of having won during a round and being able to now \u2014 I mean, I don\u2019t know, you seem very week to week, but will you do anything for Vegas or beyond because you won today?<\/p>\n
CHASE ELLIOTT: I\u2019m sure you all didn\u2019t have that on your bingo card today. I figured not.<\/p>\n
I think that for us I\u2019ve been very transparent about the areas we need to be better in, we need to be better, no doubt. I thought this weekend was truthfully a really, really solid weekend, a really competitive weekend for us for how we unloaded Saturday to the opportunities that we continued to present ourselves today. That is why we ended up having a chance to win ultimately. We got our turn, as I mentioned.<\/p>\n
The way I\u2019ve kind of progressed through the playoffs this year is just fight as hard as I can each week, try to earn myself and our team three more weeks, and you never know what can happen in three weeks. That\u2019s the \u2014 we talked about this when you asked me at Media Day. What did I tell you? Playoffs is a long time. A lot can happen in ten weeks.<\/p>\n
That can be the difference in somebody being mediocre to potentially getting on a hot streak or even a team collectively getting better throughout that course of time. So it\u2019s all about buying yourself more time. If you\u2019re not where you want to be, you\u2019re just trying to buy yourself more time. Fortunately, we bought ourself three more weeks, and we\u2019ll fight like hell until they tell us to not.<\/p>\n
THE MODERATOR: Chase, thanks for spending time with us. Congrats on that win.<\/p>\n
NASCAR PR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THE MODERATOR: We have now been joined by this afternoon\u2019s NASCAR Cup series race winner here at Kansas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,10660,7574,4384,73229,12716,634,582,721,722,82,348],"class_list":{"0":"post-177093","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-chase","11":"tag-chevrolet","12":"tag-hendrick-motorsports","13":"tag-kansas-speedway","14":"tag-motorsports","15":"tag-nascar","16":"tag-racing","17":"tag-series","18":"tag-speedway","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}