NASCAR: Chase Elliott opens up about short tracks, playoff strategy and Rick Hendrick

With two NASCAR Cup Series victories on his growing resume of accomplishments, the world of racing has plenty to look forward from Chase Elliott.

Since making his debut as a full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver, all eyes have been on Chase Elliott. Entering the NASCAR Cup Series, Elliott’s accomplishments included winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, the ARCA Racing Series and NASCAR’s K&N Pro Series East.

In 2014, he became the first rookie to win a national series championship in NASCAR when he won the Xfinity Series title. That same year, he won the Rookie of the Year Award and the Most Popular Driver Award. The Georgia native was voted the K&N Pro Series East fan favorite in 2011 and 2012. He also won the Xfinity Series Most Popular Driver Award in 2015.

The first time I spoke with Elliott in 2016 at the start of his Rookie of the Year campaign, we talked about the pressure of driving the No. 24 car made famous by Jeff Gordon, working with NASCAR’s most popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., and his famous dad, Awesome Bill from Dawsonville.

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Since that time, Elliott has emerged as a superstar driver in his own right and one of the sport’s most cheered-for drivers.

I recently had an opportunity to catch up with the front-runner for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Most Popular Driver Award before the playoffs and we spoke candidly about his playoff strategy, his thoughts on short track races, racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s new roval, and of course, what type of automobile he’s currently driving. Our conversation was a little different this time, but his position was the same – he’s focused on winning.

The young driver has won at every level of the sport. With two NASCAR Cup Series victories on his growing resume of accomplishments, it seems like the world of racing has plenty to look forward to from one of NASCAR’s most promising young drivers. I was curious to know what fans were interested in learning about the Hendrick Motorsports driver, so I decided to give a select few an opportunity to ask questions. Here are those questions and Elliott’s answers.

Question: So, Justin Schiller says, “Hey Chase, your dad got to witness your first race win in the Cup Series. What was the first race you remember witnessing your dad win?”

Chase Elliott: I was really little but he won a few races in 2002. I think his last one was at Rockingham and I remember a few very small points from that day. It was pretty cool; I remember that there was a popcorn sponsor in victory lane shooting popcorn everywhere (laughter). I can’t really depict in my mind which came first, but I remember being there for some of it in ’02.

Question: @LugsPodcast asks, “What’s the one track you would love to race with your dad?”

Chase Elliott: I would say, anywhere would be fun. We’ve had races against each other a couple of times at some mile races and things; never in NASCAR-sanctioned races, but none of that really matters. We’ve raced against each other. It has been a lot of fun and, obviously, wish we could do this more but it’s tough to line that up.

Question: I saw the spot you did with Kelley Blue Book about consumer confidence and being confident in car buying. At 22 years old and fresh into your career, what gives you confidence on the track? How are you able to carry it? Where does that come from? 

Chase Elliott: I think it is just past experiences. I think that anytime you’ve been doing something for a long period of time, you have to recognize that you’re here for a reason and beat those experiences that you’ve had overtime — whether they went good or went bad for you — you’ve got to learn from days and try to improve on it. I think that’s the big thing — have just confidence in what you do and know and believe that you’re going about things the right way. I’m fortunate to have some good folks to lean on and hear from their perspective so, yeah, it’s been great.

Question: When you’re off the track, how do you go about buying a car you don’t have to take out there on the track? How do you go about car shopping and finding what you want? 

Chase Elliott: Obviously, KBB [Kelley Blue Book]. In all honesty, not because I’m wearing their shirt, it’s a great place to go and look and see what a car is worth, or if you’re selling, what you should price it at so I think that obviously, that’s a great resource. I haven’t been in the market for many cars. I have a few, and I actually have gone through KBB and looked at some of the prices and what their worth should be. I think that’s a great place to start and figure out what you want and how bad you want it.

Question: What was the first car you drove?

Chase Elliott: The first car I drove when I turned 16 was black Silverado and, yeah, I think it was a great truck.

Question: What’s your ultimate car now that you can afford to buy almost anything? (laughter)

Chase Elliott: I’ve got a Tahoe right now so, obviously, a Chevy guy through HMS (Hendrick Motorsports). The boss has a lot of different dealerships; it’s kind of funny that his race team is Chevrolet but he owns a bunch of different car dealerships from across the board of, I think, pretty much everything. Having that connection with him, I don’t really look any further than him because if I were to go buy a car somewhere else, I think I’d get in trouble.

Question: Having been on the Hendrick team, what are some leadership lessons you’ve learned from Mr. Hendrick?

Chase Elliott: I just appreciate how he goes about his business, and he’s always had a nice approach. I feel like he makes people understand that they’re appreciated and treats them the right way, and, for as long as I’ve been around, I feel like everyone in the shop always has this greater respect for him than they do everybody else and that’s because he goes out of his way to do things for people that most don’t. I can think of countless times where a team member around campus has had an issue, or a family member has a problem, and he’s the first one to offer his plane to go and take care of them, just things like that. People appreciate him, and that comes back to just treating people the right way.

Question: Bill Steinberg asks, “What is your favorite non-Cup win, and why?”

Chase Elliott: A favorite non-Cup win will probably be one of the Snowball Derby wins. It’s a big short track race down in Pensacola, Florida and I felt like our success down there and racing super late models kind of led to where I’m at today. Those were some really important years of racing that opened my eyes I think to some people that ultimately led to where we are now.

Question: Having success at a short track like that, does that make you more comfortable at a place like this when you do get into the Cup races?

Chase Elliott: Yeah, I love short track racing; I wish we did more of it. There are only two short track races on our schedule in Martinsville. It’s a shame that we can’t find a way to race more at short tracks because places like these are just second to none as to how much fun they are to drive. It is refreshing to come to a racetrack and go out there and feeling like you really have to be perfect to be successful, put up a good laugh, and feel like you’d make a bigger difference here than other places, which I think is really cool as a driver and keeps integrity in what we do.

Question: What’s the communication like with a spotter at a short track compared to a mile-and-a-half, two miles, two-and-a-half-miles?

Chase Elliott: It’s definitely different. I think it is very busy as you get running along in this race, and hopefully, you’re good. You hope that you’re fast enough to catch other cars and put people a lap down, and if that’s the case, you have to be really on it to hit lapped traffic right because if you catch a lapped car in the wrong place, and the guy behind you cut in, you can really get taken advantage of there and vice-versa. You want to be the guy doing the overtaking and trying to take advantage of them if you can, so just keeping an eye on that. And honestly, sometimes there’s nothing I can do or the spotter can do to avoid these bad situations; a lot of it is just timing, how you catch them, and what you do when you get there without crashing. It’s a fine line; it’s pretty chaotic, and your heart rate is up, and you got to find your way through there fast, or the guy behind you is going to catch you!

Question: @FrontRowKenny, a former intern at Talladega asks, “Now that you’ve secured your first win going into the playoffs, which track do you think you have a good shot at winning?”

Chase Elliott: It’s a good question. Honestly, I think there are a few. Obviously, no one really knows what’s going to happen at the roval, but we had two great runs at the road courses so far this year, so I would hope that we could go there and have some pace.

I look at Martinsville as a place that we can compete at, Homestead, Dover, I would throw in there maybe a few others, but, you’d like to think all of them. If you’re going to compete, you’re going to have to be really good at all the places, so that’s the goal.

Question: What have you learned about playoff strategy—obviously, wins are the most important–but how you position yourself to make sure you’re in that final group going into the last races? 

Chase Elliott: Well, I think it’s all about peaking at the right time. We talk about that all the time, but it’s just a just an important thing. And it is hard to do; it is hard to purposely line that up and make that happen. As a team, you have to push all year long, but you want to find that extra two or three percent for the last 10 races if it’s there. And I feel like my team has done a really good job my first two seasons and getting better for the last 10, which is really hard to do. Reaching down and finding more is tough, but I feel like we’ve done a pretty decent job so I just hope we keep that trend up. I think the goal is to try to be stronger through the first 26, and if we can step up a little more for the last 10, then hopefully one day we can step up more than anybody else.

Question: Okay, my last fan question and this is actually not NASCAR-related. “What are your thoughts on Jose Urena hitting Ronald Acuna Jr. with a 97-mph fastball, and what his injury means to the Braves?”

Chase Elliott: Well, luckily he didn’t get injured; he was back the next night. I thought it was just a cheap shot really. I mean, if it wasn’t on purpose — I don’t know, but it sure looks like it to me — so I was pretty fired up with the rest of Braves Nation.

Question: What will people be surprised to know about you?

Chase Elliott: I don’t know. We do so many interviews, I would say everybody pretty much knows at this point. (laughter) I don’t know, I’m pretty straightforward.