NASCAR: Chase Elliott plans to stand up for himself in 2018

NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Elliott plans to stand up for himself in the 2018 season so that he does not get taken advantage of.

Martinsville Speedway hosted the opening race of the third round, the round of 8, of the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs toward the end of last October. Chase Elliott, now 22, looked like he was going to win the race and secure himself a spot in the Championship 4 in just his second career season in the sport.

But with just over two laps to go in the race, Denny Hamlin, now 37, spun him out, ending his chances at a victory and ultimately preventing him from advancing to the Championship 4, which he ended up being unable to do in the round’s final two races.

In the next race at Texas Motor Speedway, Elliott and Hamlin did not find themselves racing each other for much of the afternoon. At the end of the day, nothing new happened between the two of the day, and they both finished in the top 8.

However, in the third and final race of the round of 8 at Phoenix International Raceway, a race dominated by Hamlin, who looked like he was going to win and advance to the Championship 4, Elliott got revenge.

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Late in the race, the two drivers were battling for a position. Elliott slightly nudged Hamlin, and that forced Hamlin to make slight contact with the wall. That ultimately caused one of his tires to go down, which resulted in him slamming the wall a few laps later.

Hamlin’s championship hopes had been destroyed by the driver whose championship hopes he had destroyed just a few weeks earlier.

In response to Elliott’s crew chief Alan Gustafson telling SiriusXM NASCAR Radio two weeks ago about how he believed that his incident with Hamlin “shortened (Elliott’s) fuse and got him to a point where he felt like he was being … taken advantage of”, Elliott discussed these comments and his plan moving forward into the 2018 season.

Here is what Elliott had to say about the subject, according to NASCAR.

"“I think there were times, not just in that situation [with Denny Hamlin], that I was a little taken advantage of in how I race people and maybe with too much respect at times, and I think that’s what he was getting at with that comment. And I do think there was probably some truth to that.“So, at some point, you either stand up for yourself or you continue to get taken advantage of. I’d rather choose Option A over B. Every circumstance is going to be different. It could be something small, it could be a restart at a certain point in the race and you know the guy’s going to try to take you three-wide just because of who you are.“So, at some point in time, if you stop that from happening enough, he’s probably going to think twice about doing it to you. I think that’s just what goes around, comes around, and if you stop someone from taking advantage of you enough, they probably won’t do it anymore.”"

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Will we see any on-track feuds in the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season like we saw in the 2017 season with Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin? Will we see any feuds involving either of or perhaps even both of those drivers in 2018? That remains to be seen. The season is set to begin in just a few weeks with the 60th annual Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 18th.

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