MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
FIRST DATA 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
OCTOBER 26, 2019
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 MOUNTAIN DEW CAMARO ZL1, met with media and discussed the motor issue he had during the first practice, what his strategy will be on Sunday with having to start from the rear, his views on teamwork and stage points, and more. Full Transcript:
CHASE, IF YOU JUST WANT TO OPEN THIS WITH WALKING US THROUGH WHAT HAPPENED IN PRACTICE AND WHAT IS YOUR OUTLOOK FOR THE REST OF THE WEEKEND?
“We broke a motor there, five laps in, and it’s obviously and unfortunate way to start the day, for sure. But, it’s one of those things really that it kind of what it is at this point and everybody is working hard to try to get our car back put together to get some practice in this next one. At this point, that’s the most important thing.”
WHERE, IN YOUR MIND, DO STAGE POINTS COME IN NOW WITH HAVING TO START IN THE REAR? YOU’VE GOT 500 LAPS HERE TO MAKE YOUR WAY BACK TO THE FRONT, BUT YOU’RE SIX POINTS OFF OF FOURTH SPOT ON THE CUTLINE. YOU NEED EVERY STAGE POINT YOU CAN GET. WHERE DOES THAT FACTOR INTO YOUR MINDSET A DAY OUT FROM GREEN FLAG?
“I think just to keep things simple for us, we need to try to win. And, if you’re not in a position to win, just get as many points as possible. I think that keeps things simple for you. I’m going to be trying to be as far forward as I can be at each particular moment and try to make the smartest decisions that I can throughout the day to get us there. Obviously stage points are important, but I’m going to try to get as far forward as I can and get the most points possible at any given point in time. Yeah, starting in the back will be unfortunate for that first Stage, but there’s nothing I can do about it now.”
YOU HAD AN ENGINE ISSUE AT DOVER. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA IF THEY ARE RELATED AND ARE THERE ANY CONCERNS THAT THERE IS SOMETHING THAT COULD POTENTIALLY HAPPEN DURING THE REST OF THE WEEKEND?
“It’s hard to day. I don’t think they are related, based on what happened. But, I don’t think they are related. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. But, anytime you have two engine problems in four weeks, that’s not good, for sure. I do know that we’ll do a diligent job of trying to figure out what the problem was and hope that we can find a problem. You know, sometimes with engine failures or with parts failures, in general, when you break something, the worst thing that can happen is you don’t know why or what broke. So, we just need to make sure we do a good job of trying to figure out what caused the failure if we can find it. And, I think if we can do that. I think we can correct it.”
DOES THIS RACE HAVE ANY SORT OF WILDCARD ASPECT AS FAR AS WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL AND WHAT YOU CAN’T?
“Every race has a little bit of a wild card aspect. Who knows how restarts are going to go or if you’re going to get some damage or crash or whatever, so I think there’s always a wild card factor everywhere. But, I do think that people who always run good here are always going to be good, and I think they’re going to be good here again this weekend. If we can outrun those guys, we’ll probably have a shot to win.”
YOU DID A REMARKABLE JOB IN THE CLOSING LAPS AT TEXAS. HOW DO YOU EXPECT THE RESTARTS TO GO THERE NEXT WEEKEND? DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING ABOUT YOUR CAR THAT MIGHT TRANSFER THERE?
“Restart-wise, no. I think some of that is kind of happenstance as to how the lanes roll and how good your pusher is behind you and how willing they are to push you. And a lot of that stuff is by chance. Some of it, you put yourself in those positions if you have the opportunity, but I think everybody kind of knows what they need to do, it’s just a matter of whether or not you can position yourself in a good spot. So, we were in a fortunate situation to move forward on that last restart there at Kansas, which was good. It wasn’t good enough to win. I obviously wish we could have won. But, we definitely had some things go our way to make it through.”
YOU WERE OVER TRYING TO HELP YOUR CREW AFTER YOUR MECHANICAL ISSUE THIS MORNING…IS THAT IMPORTANT TO LET YOUR GUYS KNOW YOU WANT TO HELP?
“Obviously I want to help. I think everybody wants to help, but sometimes if too many want to help, you just get in the way. You don’t want to be in the way for sure, but I certainly care enough and I know everyone on our team cares and we all want to help and we all want to do what’s best to get our car back together so we go out and we go out and hopefully have a good practice in this next one, and tat is where our mindset is for all of us, not just me.”
DID YOU AND YOUR TEAM FEEL COMING INTO THIS RACE THAT THIS WAS A POTENTIAL ROUND THAT IS GOOD FOR YOU IN TERMS OF WINNING YOUR WAY INTO THE CHAMPIONSHIP?
“I have the mindset of this place has been hit or miss for sure. We’ve had good runs here, we’ve had bad runs here. We haven’t really found a consistent factor as to why. One is one way, or the other is the other. That has been a bit of a bummer. Just the inconsistency here. So hope we can find some consistency at this one. Texas has been a struggle since they repaved it and Phoenix has also been hit or miss. I do think that our teammates ran well at Texas in the spring, we didn’t really. I think for us if we show up and be on our game, I feel like we will have a shot to win one of these three races. Hopefully more than one of them, that would be even better. I think we can contend for wins in more than one of these next three races,”
HOW HAS THE REPAVE CHANGED THE DYNAMIC OF THE RACING AT TEXAS?
“It’s just a different racetrack. Three and four are obviously similar with the banking and everything, but one and two has been the struggle for everyone. Obviously for us, but I think everyone struggles on that end more than three and four, so it just a matter of minimizing our programs on the one-two side of the track relative to everybody else. I feel like that has been our weak point at the race track since they redid it.”
INAUDIBLE:
“I think the more laps we get there, the better it gets. That has become the norm I guess. I just hate they did what they did to it personally. It was such a great…the way it was laid out I thought the racing was so much fun there my first couple years in Cup. I really enjoyed it. But we were also running better then. A lot of time when you run good, you can be skewed as to how much fun you are having at certain race tracks. I think that is the case for me at Texas. Hopefully we get it turned around there.”
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