NASCAR CUP SERIES
DARLINGTON RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES
APRIL 5, 2025
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:
We’ve heard different drivers kind of speak throughout the week on the Xfinity Series race last week. I’m just curious your perspective on what you saw.
“Yeah, it was terrible. It was really bad. I don’t know what all has been said already, so I don’t want to add to the negativity of the week. But yeah, it wasn’t impressive at all, for sure. It was kind of embarrassing, you know, I think more than anything. We’re better than that and those guys are better than that. You just want to try to set a better example, I guess, on Sunday’s and hope that that gets taken to heart somewhere in there — that not doing things like that is a better route.
It wasn’t just like the last lap thing. It was just the whole race. The whole race was just chaos. They were running over each other with 75 laps to go, it seemed like. But anyways, I’m good on it. I think enough has probably been said.”
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.”
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