NASCAR CUP SERIES
PLAYOFF MEDIA DAY
SEPTEMBER 4, 2024
Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Camaro ZL1 – 7th in Playoff Standings
2020 NASCAR Cup Series Champion
Victories: 1
Top-Fives: 7
Top-10s: 12
Laps Led: 213
Average Finish: 11.6
Stage Wins: 1
Of Note:
- The 2024 season marks Elliott’s eighth appearance in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
- Elliott has advanced to the Championship 4 three times in his career, with his first coming in his championship-earning season (2020).
- Elliott has scored seven of his 19 career NASCAR Cup Series victories in the playoffs.
- Elliott has at least one victory at seven of the 10 tracks on the playoff schedule: Watkins Glen (two wins), Talladega Superspeedway (two), Kansas Speedway (one), Charlotte ROVAL (one), Martinsville Speedway (one), Atlanta Motor Speedway (one), Phoenix Raceway (one).
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS CAMARO ZL1 – 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Media Day Quotes:
DO YOU SEE A ROUND THAT HAS MORE HAZARDS TO YOUR CHAMPIONSHIP HOPES THAN OTHERS?
“No, I think our odds are good. I don’t really take a look at a particular round being a problem any more than any other. I think that if we can just get the things that we need to do, going right, I think we can be good all the way through it. Obviously, Darlington was bad for sure. We ran way worse than we had hoped to run there. But when I look back at Pocono, Indy, and Michigan, I was really happy where we were headed. Some of those runs and some of the pace that we had, I thought it was some of the best of the year. So, I think if we can just get back to that, I think it’s great and I think that is all we have to do. I think it’s just having that type of pace and that type of competitiveness. If we are doing that, we are going to give ourselves opportunities to win and eventually they are going to go your way. So, it’s just about being there on a weekly basis. You do that, and you will get your chances.”
REGARDING HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS’ SUCCESS AT WATKINS GLEN AND ANTICIPATING ANY CHANGES GIVEN THE CHANGES AT THE TRACK
“I don’t think so. I still think it’s going to be very much Watkins Glen of old. Correct me if I am wrong, but the bus stop is the biggest change of all, am I right? Yeah, so I mean that is one little section of the track and I can’t imagine that its totally going to throw off the rhythm of what Watkins Glen is. I think its going to feel very similar and you might have this one little section that might feel different, but I think overall it will be the same old Watkins Glen.”
ALEX BOWMAN SAID YOU KIND OF FOUND SOMETHING AT WATKINS GLEN AND KIND OF BUILT THAT BASIS FOR THEM. WITHOUT SPOILING IT, CAN YOU GIVE DETAILS ON WHAT YOU FOUND THERE?
“Yeah, we had a test there maybe my rookie year or maybe shortly after that. It was already a good road course package before I got there, so it wasn’t like we created something out of thin air. We had a good basis, but there was one particular test that we developed a good package for, and we built off that. I would assume that is what he is referring to, but it was more than just that one day. It was a lot of collaboration between all the teams and drivers after that test and the races that followed that test to get it to where it was and the success that we had. Now this was all with the old car and everything with the new car is totally different. So, the success that we have had as a company with the new car, is totally different.”
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHANGE YOU HAVE SEEN WITH THE NEW CAR ON THE ROAD COURSES?
“Just the difficulty in passing. It has become, in my opinion, way harder to do and in particular to get the rear tires to live. It’s just hard. Anywhere that we go, the corner entry, the part of the corner that is narrow, is going to be an extreme challenge to pass. You look at Darlington very much the same way. Its not like you can fan out and have a bunch of different options when you first turn off the wall. Martinsville is a great example of that, the road courses are a prime example of that. Phoenix is a little bit that way in three and four. So, when you leave the wall and you can’t get outboard or inboard of someone’s wake, it’s going to be a real challenge. And with road courses, there is one spot that you want to be on corner entry. Unless you are just dive bombing a guy. And even if you are doing that, that is not the optimum way to make a lap time either.”
IS IT MORE IN A DRIVER’S HANDS OR LESS IN A DRIVER’S HANDS IN THIS ROUND?
“The Bristol thing in the spring was just such a weird deal, and it sounds like they really want to recreate that too, from everything that I have heard. And I don’t know that we knew why that happened in the spring, but if they successfully fabricate craziness, then yeah, its going to be wild. But I don’t know that you are really going to know that until you get there, and you are kind of in the moment. So, I think in the scenarios you are asking about, you just have to be there and get in there and try to figure it out. Because some of those things are going to be hard to plan for.”
“The first round definitely needs to be respected because it’s not a cakewalk by any means. That is what you get when you have these short rounds and every year, we put another speedway in there and you are going to get craziness. You keep fabricating this stuff and that is what you are going to get.”
BACK IN THE DAY TONY STEWART WON HALF THE PLAYOFF RACES, AND THEN IN 2021 KYLE LARSON WON HALF THE PLAYOFF RACES. IS THAT ERA GONE OR STILL POSSIBLE?
“It’s possible. Hard to do, but possible.”
IS IT MORE OF THE CAR THAT IS THE BIGGEST FACTOR?
“That has probably changed it the most. Just everyone is more similar on more tracks. So, yes, I would say.”
HOW DO YOU LOOK AT IT NOW GOING INTO A PLAYOFF SITUATION?
“You know, I can’t really say that in my time of doing it that I have really changed my process. But I have certainly have a lot of fun in the last 10 weeks just because there is something on the line. I do enjoy that aspect of being a competitor and showing up each week because it could be a make-or-break weekend for you. I think that is fun, you know?”
WHY?
“Well, just because you either do or you don’t. That is fun to me. You go to a race and your back is against the wall and you have to perform. You either show up and get it done or if you didn’t, you get your report card that day and you didn’t do a good enough job. And I like that. I like that aspect of that there are intense moments over the course of that stuff. Am I a fan of all the aspects of it, maybe not necessarily, but I do enjoy the fun meter of being a competitor in the last 10 weeks that it brings me.”
WHAT WAS IT LIKE LAST YEAR AND NOT BEING IN THE PLAYOFFS?
“Yeah, we were in the Owner’s (Championship), so it really was not any different to be honest with you. I wasn’t here for media day, but we were still in the owner’s deal.”
WHICH TRACK IN THE FIRST ROUND, SECOND ROUND, OR THIRD ROUND IS THE HARDEST TO QUALIFY FOR THE NEXT STAGE?
“I have not looked past the first round to be really honest with you. But when I look at the first round, I try to take it a week at a time. It’s a good thing because Atlanta is first, and that place is going to be crazy and chaotic, and you try not to crash ultimately. We will try and get some stage points and try to put ourselves in position to win would be great. But I haven’t really looked past that.”
DO YOU THINK NASCAR SHOULD INTRODUCE THE SOFT TIRES JUST BEFORE THE PLAYOFFS OR NOT CHANGE THE GAME AT THIS POINT?
“I don’t know. The North Wilkesboro experiment didn’t go great because the track was freshly paved, and I think that is why it didn’t work out like they thought it was going to work out. The Richmond thing probably went pretty good. I thought. It was an added element to the event that was more positive than negative. I don’t know that that works everywhere, so I could see both sides. Maybe at some tracks I could see it being really good and we might need it, but maybe not everywhere.”
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