Image by Matthew Thacker/LAT
Elliott’s rough road continues with early exit at Pocono
Chase Elliott said there was no indication of something going wrong before he blew a tire and hit the Turn 3 wall at Pocono Raceway.
It was the second accident of the weekend for Elliott and will result in his fourth DNF of the season. He was already in a backup car after suffering right side and right rear damage when he crashed coming off Turn 1 during practice Saturday morning.
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“It hasn’t been our month and a half,” said Elliott. “It happens. Yesterday shouldn’t have happened. Today, I guess today was really just a result of yesterday. When you go to a backup car, and you’re fighting through problems and trying to make the thing drive better, you might overwork a corner or whatever. Really what it comes down to is shouldn’t have crashed yesterday and then wouldn’t be driving this car today.
“Bottom line is, don’t crash on Saturday.”
Elliott crashed on Lap 85 in Stage 2 while running inside the top 10. He did not score points in Stage 1.
Pocono will make it a seven straight weeks in which Elliott and the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports team has failed to finish inside the top 10. Dating back to Michigan on June 10, Elliott has five finishes outside the top 20, including an engine issue at Sonoma and crashes at Daytona and Pocono.
Elliott’s best finish in this span has been an 11th-place effort at Chicagoland.
“I don’t think we’re doing a poor job,” Elliott said when asked if the stretch was circumstances out of his control or any concern over performance. “So you guys go count up what was our fault and what wasn’t.”
Kelly Crandall
Kelly has been on the NASCAR beat full-time since 2013, and joined RACER as chief NASCAR writer in 2017. Her work has also appeared in NASCAR.com, the NASCAR Illustrated magazine, and NBC Sports. A corporate communications graduate from Central Penn College, Crandall is a two-time George Cunningham Writer of the Year recipient from the National Motorsports Press Association.
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