NASCAR: Here’s why you don’t wreck Chase Elliott

Recent history shows that wrecking Chase Elliott in NASCAR Cup Series races does not bode well for the aggressors — specifically Joe Gibbs Racing drivers.

Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott is set to enter the round of 8 of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs at Kansas Speedway on a high, as he is coming off of another victory at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.

For the second straight year, he took the checkered flag at the the 17-turn, 2.28-mile (3.669-kilometer) Roval in Concord, North Carolina after coming from the back of the field as a result of an earlier issue.

Elliott, who is one of three drivers to qualify for the round of 8 in each of the last four seasons, has finished in fourth, first and second place in the last three playoff races at the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) oval in Kansas City, Kansas.

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However, wrecking him isn’t the best way to go about slowing him down.

In addition to instantly becoming the most hated driver in the sport, just look at what has happened the last two times the most popular driver was taken out in a notable wreck — and it has had nothing to do with retaliation.

At Martinsville Speedway in the opening race of the round of 8 of the 2017 playoffs, Elliott was leading with just over two laps remaining when Denny Hamlin drove his #11 Toyota into the back of his #24 Chevrolet and spun him into the turn three wall.

This resulted in an animated confrontation between the pair after the race, and two weeks later at Phoenix Raceway, the two drivers made contact again. Neither driver advanced to the Championship 4.

Hamlin, who was on a seven-race win drought at the time, ended up going completely winless the following season, marking his first winless season in the Cup Series since he began competing full-time in 2006. He failed to advance past the opening round of the playoffs and ended up going on a 47-race win drought before he won again in February of 2019.

Now skip ahead to this past May.

Again in position to win a race, Elliott was on new tires and attempted to make his way past Kyle Busch on the outside for second place at Darlington Raceway. Hamlin was leading the race, but Elliott’s tires would have changed that within the next lap if not for what happened next.

Busch, the reigning series champion who was only riding a five-race win drought at the time, slid up the track in an attempt to get in the faster line, and in doing so, his #18 Toyota made contact with Elliott’s #9 Chevrolet, sending the latter crashing into the inside retaining wall.

Elliott responded by flipping Busch off the next time he drove by.

The two-time and reigning champion still hasn’t won a race in 2020, marking the longest he has ever gone into a season without a win, and he is at risk of his first career winless season since he began competing full-time in 2005.

His winning streak of 15 years is just three shy of the all-time record. Busch has long been seen as destined to break Richard Petty’s all-time record of 18 given that he is still only 35 and had entered 2020 having won at least four races in five straight years.

But it could very well be over next month.

Additionally, Busch failed to qualify for the Championship 4 for the first time since 2014, and he even failed to qualify for the round of 8, marking the earliest ever playoff elimination for the reigning champion in the current format.

Bottom line: if you are still in championship contention — or if you want to win at any point in the near future — your best bet isn’t to wreck the #9 Chevrolet.

You could even argue Martin Truex Jr. belongs in the mix here, although he had been riding a lengthy 15-race win drought when his incident with Elliott occurred, and that incident was quite a bit less controversial than the other two because of how it happened.

Truex, who entered the 2020 season riding four straight seasons with at least four wins and three straight Championship 4 berths, has won just one time this season, with that win coming at June at Martinsville Speedway. He made contact with Elliott late in the race at Darlington Raceway last month while battling for the lead.

Truex said he thought he was clear. Elliott called him a “jackass”.

Truex’s win drought is now up to 21 races.

The round of 8 is scheduled to feature races at Kansas Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and Martinsville Speedway, with those races scheduled to take place today, next Sunday, October 25 and Sunday, November 1, respectively.