Chase Elliott fires back at NASCAR after penalty during Brickyard 400
Another week and another big penalty for Chase Elliott. The Hendrick Motorsports driver was given a blend line violation. NASCAR felt that Elliott did not abide by the rules as he blended back on track off of pit road.
Chase Elliott disagreed with NASCAR’s decision. He did more than disagree. He was absolutely fuming, he had been racing for the lead prior to green flag stops.
After the penalty and his pass-through on pit road, Elliott came out a lap down and mad as hell.
“That’s not right,” Chase Elliott said on the radio. “I did exactly what the f***ing sheet said to do.”
Davey Segal of SiriusXM NASCAR Radio also reported on radio chatter.
“I mean what the f***?! … I do exactly what they f***ing tell us to do. They didn’t say line, they said racing surface, so you tell me how the f*** I was on the racing surface.”
Jeff Gluck of The Athletic reported that Chase Elliott said “while those pieces of s**t motherf***ers are sitting up there not doing a f***ing thing.”
Harsh words from NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver.
I think that this reaction goes to show how important this race is for these drivers. Winning at the Brickyard is all that they care about. After three years of not being able to claim a win on the oval, these drivers are dying to kiss the bricks.
Chase Elliott goes wild after penalty at Indy
Last week at Pocono, it was a pit road speeding penalty in the final stage that cost Chase Elliott, and Kyle Larson for that matter. Now another penalty early on at Indianapolis, and Elliott has about had enough.
To make things worse, Elliott, the points leader, was racing against the three drivers who can take the regular season championship from him. Kyle Larson trails by three points. Tyler Reddick is only 15 points back. Denny Hamlin is only 20 points away.
That has to be playing a factor in the frustration here. He knows that he can’t afford a mistake like this. Now the only problem is getting back through the field on this narrow and speedy race track.
It definitely doesn’t help Chase Elliott that Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson went 1-2 in the first stage with Tyler Reddick picking up six points as well in that stage, finishing P5.