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It wasn’t the best few weeks for Chase Elliott, but he’s still sixth in points in Sunday’s cup race in Martinsville Speedway.
Of course, if your Hendrick Motorsports teammates are in the season 1-2-3, the sixth may not look as good as it is.
Fines and achievement have stimulated Elliott lately. He finished 18th on Homestead after a fine for Pit Road. He placed the tenth place in each of the two races before Homestead, but he did not see the performances much.
Jeff Gordon, vice -chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, recognizes the challenges that Elliott and his team had and did not express any concerns.
“I feel like they also came with a lot of momentum in the season and started strong, which means you could just feel that they have a lot of confidence and go to the racetrack to go,” Gordon said after last weekend’s race on Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“I think the last few weeks have probably been a little frustrating for them. I think (homestead) will probably be a little frustrating for them too. But they are a very good team. Just a lot of depth and a lot of faith in each other.
“You know, you have to get through the Rocky Times. … This is once again a high standard at Hendrick, which brings everyone, such as (Kyle Larson) ‘s team (win Homestead). And so you really measure yourself against the best that is out there, and many times in your own stable.
“So if you do not achieve what you want to achieve, then you know that you have to go to work, and you know that you do not meet expectations. So these guys have high expectations, Alan (Gustafson), Chase. It is not uncommon for them to come off a little, “Hey, it’s not good enough,” but I saw how they were really responding well and being positive with it. “
Martinsville is a good place to go next for Elliott, who won one win in his last 76 cup. He finished second in last fall’s play -off match and was third in the spring event. Elliott was the only driver to end up in the top -10 last season in all the Cup shortcut.
While Kyle Larson celebrated his first win of the season, some others did not leave so happy.
Before last weekend’s race on Homestead, Elliott judged his season and said, ‘There were some highlights, there were a few low places. I thought that the first three weeks, four weeks if you included the collision there (won by Elliott), were all good. We had very fast cars and cars that did, truly, exactly what I wanted. We crashed the first three weeks of the season, so it was the unfortunate.
“I’m not going to sit here and tell you that Phoenix (10th place) or Vegas (10th) was good because it wasn’t. I know that and you know it. We just have to keep sitting away and try to find good runs. ‘
Elliott’s finish in Las Vegas included a fine of the Pit Road, its second of the year. He also had a quick penalty in Atlanta after being involved in an incident on track.
The runner -up of Alex Bowman on Homestead moves him to third place in the points.
On Homestead, Elliott was eighth in the Pit Road at the end of the second phase and left seventh place. Nascar penalized him for not entering a single file under caution. Instead, he entered the inside of Austin Cindric’s car.
Elliott told Gustafson on the radio of his team that he had come on the inside of Cindric to prevent him from hitting the back of Cindric’s car as the field walked into the Pit Road.
“Zero benefit there,” Elliott said on the radio. “I just tried not to hit the man.”
Elton Sawyer, senior vice president of the NASCAR, explained this week on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio why Elliott was penalized.
“If we are under green conditions, I will use the Daytona, Talladega Superspeedway type and even at Homestead-Miami … it’s alive,” he said. “If they come to Pit Road, they will turn as far as 3 and 4 as they can quickly. Then they really need to be delayed to the velocity of the road by the time they get to the yellow line (the entrance to the Pit Road). Therefore, we can see cars that will enter under green conditions.
‘Under yellow conditions … we captured the field. We drove at least one shot under caution, perhaps sometimes multiple rounds. So everyone is captured. They are a single file. At that point, it really doesn’t have to be in a single file when your Pit Road enters.
“The reason why the rule is in place is safety. In the case of (Elliott) and I believe he was next to (Cindric), if you just think that (Cindric) sits in the very first pit box. If he is in line and as soon as he crosses the entrance point of the well, he will turn left. If there is another car, then he is on the Pit Road.
