Chase Elliott still doesn’t know exactly what to expect at Chicago. Though he does know he will be starting deep in the field Sunday after a forgettable Saturday afternoon.
Despite turning laps on the simulator and walking the track Saturday morning, prior to practice and qualifying the Hendrick Motorsports driver said he still doesn’t think he understands the nuances of the Chicago Street Course.
“It’s very difficult to look and know versus being on the track and feel and see it,” Elliott said. “What your eyes are seeing and how you’re receiving that information when you’re out there running is just different than it is when you’re walking.”
“Watching these cars run – the track content, to me, is really high in some areas and it’s really smooth in other areas. So finding that balance I think is going to be really important.”
For him, the goal was “just making laps” in practice to find a rhythm and earn a good qualifying position.
“I think qualifying well is going to be paramount to winning tomorrow,” Elliott contended.
That’s especially true, he emphasized, with a track that may not feature much passing on-track.
“It’s obviously narrow in sections. I think that’s going to be a hot topic of things to talk about.”
“I do think it’s going to be difficult to pass once everybody gets up to pace come race time, but I hope that we’re able to mix it up and do different things,” he said.
That’s especially true on pit entry and exit, where it’s a narrow blend line inside of two sharp turns where cars will be traveling at different speeds, although Elliott said it wouldn’t be a big deal since the corners are already slow anyway.
In practice Elliott indeed did turn laps and finished a respectable 20th place. But in qualifying his day got even worse. With 3 minutes left in Group B qualifying Elliott was coming into Turn 8, glanced off the wall and slid into the outside wall hard with the left side of his Chevy. He was out of qualifying, and the crew forced to a backup car. He will have to start in the back of the field Sunday.
“I just made a mistake,” Elliott said. “Turned in too soon, clipped the wall on the right and then hit the wall on the left.”
Earlier Saturday Elliott said he was a fan of the track itself.
“The track looks really nice, I feel like,” Elliott said. “I’m excited about it. My laps and time in the simulator – I had a lot of fun. I thought the track actually had a nice flow to it, so that was cool. We’ll see how that translates.”
He’s especially complimentary of the sport for setting up the track. Much of the infrastructure was set up quickly on Friday night and Saturday morning.
“Overall, I think from my end, super impressed with all the logistics and things that go into this stuff. So props to NASCAR and all the people that put this place together – built the walls, built the fences and have done all the work over these last handful of weeks because a lot went into it.”
“We’re all just kind of showing up here this weekend, but there’s a lot of work down there,” Elliott said. “Just excited to be here and hope we can put on a good show.”
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