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NASCAR CUP SERIES: NASCAR ALL-STAR RACEJuly 15, 2020Chase ElliottBristol, Tennessee THE MODERATOR: We are joined by our race winner, Chase Elliott. Why don't you start off by running through your All‑Star Race. CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, just a special night. A special event. Any race is hard to win, but this is a special race to win, something that locks you in the All‑Star Race for life. That's extremely special to join dad. Winning this race means a lot to me as well. Just a big thanks to our partners, UniFirst, NAPA, Hooter's, Kelley Blue Book, Mountain Dew, Chevrolet, all our partners that make this go around. They stood by us through some not‑so‑spectacular years. We've had a rough couple weeks. We ruined Mr. Hendrick's birthday on Sunday by running pathetic. It was really nice to slightly make up for that tonight. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions. Q. You had a really good car back in May at Bristol. Was the car just as good tonight, better? How would you rate it? CHASE ELLIOTT: To be honest, I think it was a little bit better. I think we improved our car at least for the short run. The race a few weeks ago I felt like consisted of more long runs than the short runs. The short run came down to the very end. That was our weak point in that event. We put a lot of emphasis on trying to be better in the short run. I thought we hit it really well tonight. Q. In the last segment, are you looking in your mirror thinking when you were going to get bumped, somebody is going to try to wreck me for this thing? CHASE ELLIOTT: I think you have to expect that in any event, especially this one. There's no points on the line or anything. The goal is to get far enough away where they don't have that option. Luckily it worked out that way tonight. Got a good restart there at the end, was able to put together a good 15 laps to seal the deal. Q. How big is this win to you and why is it so big to you? CHASE ELLIOTT: I mean, to me this is one of those prestigious events that the Cup Series only has, right? This is a special race on the schedule every year. There's a lot of hype around it. The other thing about it is, you know, it's something you have to race your way into. Luckily we raced our way into this deal for life now. That means a lot. To me, it reminds me a lot of the Clash or something at the beginning of the year in some ways. I think this race is bigger than that because you're racing against the very best over recent times and anybody's career that have locked themselves into this event. To beat the best I think is always special. Q. The only other time this race was run away from Charlotte was Atlanta, your dad won it. What does it mean to have a victory in this race like your dad? CHASE ELLIOTT: I didn't know that. I knew that, but I didn't really put it together until Winston told me that there on the front straightaway. Somebody told me upstairs a second ago I think the only other family duo to win the All‑Star Race were the Earnhardts. Any time you can join them in anything racing is very special. To join dad in winning this event, heck, I mean, that's not just special, that's a lot of years and a lot of history for everything to come full circle like that. It's pretty dang cool. Q. Kevin Harvick talked about the challenges of the upper lane, raising the question about track prep. There was concern about track prep at Kentucky last week. How concerning has the track prep been the last two races? Is there a concern going into Texas? CHASE ELLIOTT: I mean, I don't think so. The track prep was no different today than it has been the past two or three years we've been coming here. The difference was the length of the event was not long enough for us to get the grip strip up off the bottom to where the momentum around the top became the dominating factor. Look, at the end of the day, by the end of a 500‑lap race, the top is the place to be. At the end of a hundred some odd lap race, the bottom is the place to be. There's still a place to be so I'm not really sure that it matters. Q. You said in addressing the victory on television there's no feeling like watching those fans lose their minds after you've been successful. What's the difference from your perspective, from the athlete's perspective, having the adulation at the end of a night for you versus what you have experienced without anyone there? CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, you know, to me tonight felt like an event again. I feel like we've been missing that piece for a couple months. It just felt really good to get NASCAR back. I mean, NASCAR is built on the fans. Once the race starts, it's hard to engage with them because you can't hear them. Before a race, the atmosphere was energetic again. I felt like the vibe was back. I felt like that fire and intensity in me was back even more so than it has been, a piece that had been missing. I think that's driven by the people, the cars pulling in, the prerace parties and everything that you see. I actually went up in the stands. I snuck up there with my mask on, watched the Open from the back straightaway. I'm looking around, seeing all these kids and families, people wearing their respective drivers, a lot of 9 gear. You don't realize how much impact you have on people you never met, you never will meet, who genuinely want to see me do well and they don't even know me. It's pretty dang cool to experience that. I felt like I had a special night sitting up there with them watching that Open from the grandstands, really seeing and getting back to the roots of what this sport is built on. Then to engage with them after the race, to me it made it mean that much more. Q. You said after the race you had struggled, had difficult races in the last several weeks. Did you feel as a collective unit at Hendrick that you were missing something the last several weeks or more individual circumstances of the races? CHASE ELLIOTT: I mean, a little bit of both. I felt like I was struggling. I wasn't doing a real good job, giving good feedback. To me good feedback is giving a direction on the car and coming in and doing that and going back out and being better. My direction has not been pointing us in a better direction in going faster these past couple weeks. I feel like I needed to hit the reset button, not overthink things, do what I feel is right. That's a hard thing to do all the time. You try to get better, you try to learn. A lot of times you can take yourself down a road, this or that, that may not necessarily be benefitting you. But we all want to improve. I certainly have room for improvement. Tonight was a great night for us, but I still think I can do better and there's areas I can improve on. I'm going to keep working on that. Q. You must get an adrenaline rush in a race with fans. It must be something you can take forward for the rest of the season? CHASE ELLIOTT: Absolutely. To me there is no more electric environment that we as NASCAR drivers can interact with and hear at Bristol. There's no other racetrack that's like this, that you're surrounded by the people watching all the way around the racetrack. I don't think there's a better place to have people back for the first time than here. I know it was limited on how many people could come. Heck, it felt like they sure were making a lot of noise for only 30,000 people to be here, so that was pretty cool. Q. What are you going to do with the money? CHASE ELLIOTT: That's a great question. Blaney was giving me a hard time about Mountain Dew earlier today. I think I'm just going to send a truck to his house and they're going to unload about 14 pallets of Mountain Dew in his driveway this week, see what he does with that. Q. Normally we don't race mid July at Bristol. Did you notice anything different in the car than you would at Bristol normally? CHASE ELLIOTT: To me it felt like normal Bristol. This racetrack I think is really consistent from the standpoint of just the overall feel, what it's like. I thought everything was really very Bristol‑esque. Q. This being the first real marquee win of your career, you touched on the significance, but to have a marquee event on your résumé now, what kind of importance does that mean for you? CHASE ELLIOTT: It means a lot. I think that's why the Coca‑Cola 600 this year hurt so much. Those are big events. This race is a big event. The 600, the Daytona 500, the Brickyard, the Southern 500, all those races are just ones that I feel like when you get done racing, you can look back and say that you had won something like that. I think it's a special thing. That's why. All wins are hard. I've never had an easy one. I can't say that any of them are any harder or easier than others. When I get done racing one day, to look back and say we won the All‑Star Race I think will be a special thing. Q. The under glow on the cars, what did it look like from your perspective? Did it change anything for you? Just weird to see? CHASE ELLIOTT: I didn't think it did much of anything, to be honest with you. It sure didn't do anything for me. Q. Can you hear the sirens going off in Dawsonville tonight? What does it mean to you to bring this back to Dawsonville, the fans that have followed you your whole career? CHASE ELLIOTT: It's amazing. I can't wait to get home. It's late. I don't know what time it is. Probably not going to hear it tonight. Hopefully somebody took a good video of it I can see it. Such a special tradition, Gordon there at the poolroom has carried on for me, after doing it for my dad's career over the years. Just proud that we were able to win, make it happen. Q. How do you think the choose rule played out tonight? CHASE ELLIOTT: I think the choose rule has been needed for a long time. I think it should be that way every week. I don't think there's really a reason to not have it. There's no reason to me why you shouldn't have the choice or you should be automatically told where you're going to line up when one lane has an obvious advantage just based on where you come off of pit road. To me, life isn't fair, but it just makes way more sense to put it in our hands. It either works out for you or it doesn't. If it doesn't work out, it's your own fault, not the luck of the draw, where you come off of pit road. Q. You jumped out front towards the final two stages. Once you took control of the race, never gave it up again. How important was getting out front? CHASE ELLIOTT: Luckily we were able to pass up through there. I think we had a really good UniFirst Camaro and we were able to make some passes there at the beginning of the race. My team did a really good job of hitting the setup really well for running the bottom. I don't know how it would have been if I ever had to move up. Yeah, I just think the way it played out, we were fast around the bottom and we were able to get out front and control the race. That's nothing new. When somebody has a fast car and they get out front, it typically looks like that I feel like. I was just glad it was us this time. Q. How much of tonight's race can you apply to the Playoff race in the fall? Was it maybe too small of a sample size? CHASE ELLIOTT: I think Bristol is Bristol, like I said a minute ago. We'll for sure be thinking about what we had here a few weeks ago, what we had tonight, try to be better when we come back. THE MODERATOR: Congratulations and thanks for joining us. CHASE ELLIOTT: Thank you. Have a good night. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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