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Chase Elliott Continues His Darlington Disappointment With Another Shaky Start and now in soup
Ranking third with the playoffs just around the corner is exciting indeed. However, it can also be stressful with a heap of expectations on your shoulders, as Chase Elliott is facing right now. After scoring his redemption win at Texas early this year, the Hendrick Motorsports driver followed it up with a streak of consistent finishes. Yet now at Darlington, his luck seems to be running low.
Elliott finished 12th in the spring race and stocked up a double run in his schedule for the second time. Yet both Xfinity and Cup held some poor starts in store for him. Although he finished in the top five on Saturday, Elliott is scratching his head as he gears up for the Southern 500.
The final regular season race of the Cup Series is all set to flag off at Darlington Raceway. But before getting ready to tame the Cup event, Chase Elliott visited the Lady in Black for Xfinity. His qualifying results stooped low, as the Hendrick driver started in 17th place. Yet he did wheel the No. 17 Chevy to the front row, taking advantage of a late restart and finishing 4th. However, Elliott’s Cup rival Christopher Bell won the race. Peer pressure, coupled with poor Cup qualifying (20th place), has gotten Elliott worried.
The press crowded around Chase Elliott to ask him about his Xfinity outing, but the driver seemed gloomy. “I don’t know. Hopefully, just a couple of driving things. But we’ll see when the day starts.”
The sultry heat got on his nerves, added to the fact that his qualifying woes doubled for the Cup Series. He said it’s important to “just hydrate, you know. You’re kind of behind already. So the good news is (not) racing till 6 tomorrow night. So you got some time to get some fluids back in you.”
Yet Chase Elliott refrained from blaming it on his car, claiming he was “really proud” of his team for the remarkable pit stops. Instead, he took it on himself, and said, “The car was great. I just, I struggled here. So maybe I had to get into a good rhythm. Even when I got into a good rhythm, it’s not a great rhythm, you know. It’s just kind of decent. So trying to work through it, find a little bit here and there…Gotta compete with the good guys here tomorrow night.”
Despite Chase Elliott’s apprehensions, some insiders believe him to be a top contender in Darlington. With only an 18-point cushion over Tyler Reddick’s top spot, Elliott also looks solid as a potential champion. Meanwhile, the Hendrick driver is equally excited about next year’s revamped schedule as well.
Sharing his appreciation and excitement, Elliott said, “The leadership group at NASCAR has been exploring a lot of different things that historically would probably have never happened, so I give them a lot of credit for that. I think to get outside the country is really a pretty cool thing. And it’s a pretty cool honor for us to have a following big enough to be able to leave and go somewhere and have an event and draw a big enough crowd for it to be successful. I think it’s really good and it’s healthy, and it’s something that we should probably look at doing if it goes well.”
Although Darlington is stressing out Chase Elliott currently, next year’s novel schedule may be enough to uplift his spirits. Let us see whether our top-point contender dazzles us at year-end.
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A former Ferrari engineer has criticised the decision to bring in Lewis Hamilton and thinks the Brit’s presence will mean “a lot of potential for drama”.
At the age of 40, seven-time Formula 1 champion Hamilton will form a formidable driver partnership with Charles Leclerc. His big switch comes at the expense of Carlos Sainz, who has performed well for the Italian squad but who was axed so they had room for their blockbuster new signing.
But not everyone of a Ferrari persuasion is convinced that it will go well. Ernest Knoors, who spent many years as an engineer at Maranello, specialising in power units, worries that Hamilton’s presence could do more harm than good for a team that is finding its groove under Frederic Vasseur.
“A big name like Hamilton also brings a lot of politics and if politics within Ferrari are not managed well, then there is a lot of potential for drama,” he told Formule1.nl. “Hamilton has the tendency that if things do not work out, he turns his whole car upside down and starts experimenting.
“Ferrari believes very much in the big personalities and will follow him. But Hamilton is just someone you have to guide a little bit and not give the freedom to rebuild the whole car, because then it will go completely wrong. So I do not know if it is such a smart move, but of course it is nice for the sport.”
News of Hamilton’s planned move broke on February 1, coinciding with football’s Transfer Deadline Day. That the back pages of many newspapers were dominated by the decision of Hamilton to swap Mercedes for Ferrari was testament to the magnitude of the announcement.
Sainz was not surprised as he had been informed by his team of the plan ahead of it being made public. But the Spaniard responded well with two victories to date this season and five further appearances on the podium, on the way to what looks likely to be a fifth-placed finish in the championship – two spots and 54 points ahead of Hamilton.
Sainz has signed for Williams next year and, after several years of running at the front of the grid, will focus on his new challenge of helping restore one of the grid’s most historic teams to its former glory. But Knoors believes he should have been kept on by Ferrari instead.
The Dutchman added: “I see Lewis Hamilton’s arrival at Ferrari more as a PR move. With all due respect, Hamilton is not going to take that Ferrari from P6 to P1. He will get the most out of it, but what Ferrari has to do is make that car faster. And if you make that car faster, you can easily drive at the front with the current line-up.
“Besides, as a team you have to look further on the horizon. If Hamilton becomes champion in the coming years, he and Ferrari will become immortal. But if you want to build a team with talent for the next five years, are you going to build on Hamilton? No, because he will really be finished after two or three years. That is why I would have kept the very strong line-up that Ferrari has now.”
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Chase Elliott had a front-row seat for one of NASCAR’s most bizarre moments of the 2024 Cup Series season. At the start of Stage 2, the pace car dove onto pit road in front of Elliott; however, it was a tad too late. The pace car made contact with the sand barrels at the entry of pit road and caused a red flag for cleanup.
Initially, there was some speculation on the NBC Sports broadcast, even from the No. 9 team, that Elliott made contact with the pace car. Fortunately, the pace car didn’t slide across the No. 9 car’s nose, but it undoubtedly provided one of NASCAR’s craziest red flag moments in recent memory.
Below, you can listen to Elliott and the No. 9 team react to the pace car crashing into the sand barrels on pit road at Phoenix during Championship Weekend!
Reflecting on the recent retirement of 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr., Earnhardt didn’t mince words about the toll NASCAR takes on its drivers. Speaking candidly, the two-time Daytona 500 winner admitted that the pressure to perform every week left him feeling miserable for most of his racing career—a sentiment he believes is shared by many of his peers.
“Right or wrong, racing made me a miserable person 90% of the time,” Earnhardt confessed. “And him too. I mean, ask Kyle Busch, ask anybody—unless you’re winning, you’re not happy.”
For these elite drivers, the sport is a relentless grind. A podium finish might bring temporary relief, but anything short of victory is often a source of frustration. The immense effort poured into preparation and execution rarely feels like it pays off unless the checkered flag is theirs.
Earnhardt highlighted the mental toll of falling short, explaining how the relentless focus on winning can overshadow the joy of simply competing. Even a solid performance feels hollow compared to the euphoria of a win.
“Unless you’re winning, you’re not happy at all,” he said. “You’re okay with a good run, but for the most part, all the effort it takes just to run good—it doesn’t weigh out.”
For drivers, the stakes are sky-high every week. Sponsors, fans, and teams demand nothing less than excellence, leaving little room for error or personal satisfaction in anything less than a dominant performance.
Earnhardt also shared insights into his friendship with Martin Truex Jr., who recently announced his retirement. While the two often spend time hunting together during NASCAR’s off-season, Earnhardt noted that the stress of racing even creeps into their leisure activities.
“When I’m with him during hunting season, it’s always in the back of his mind,” Earnhardt said. “It’s that stressful part of the year when he’s as miserable as he’s going to be.”
Now, with Truex stepping away from the track, Earnhardt looks forward to seeing a lighter, happier version of his long-time friend. Without the weight of weekly competition hanging over him, Truex might finally be able to relax and enjoy the outdoor lifestyle he cherishes.
“It’ll be fun to see him loosen up,” Earnhardt added.
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