Elliott finds NASCAR's Chicagoland return 'a bit of a challenge'

Chicagoland Speedway re-opening its gates for NASCAR Cup Series drivers on Friday was a much-anticipated moment after seven years of silence, but it was also a session that Chase Elliott believed would be almost a reintroduction to the facility.

“I think it’s going to take a minute to get up to speed for everybody who wasn’t at the test,” Elliott said. “Hopefully, we can do that quickly and get to a place that we feel confident in making a change from there.”

Only three drivers had run a Next Gen car around Chicagoland Speedway prior to this weekend, and that experience came during a Goodyear tire test in April. Denny Hamlin represented Toyota, Ryan Blaney represented Ford, and Elliott’s teammate, the reigning two-time series champion, Kyle Larson, represented Chevrolet.

Hendrick Motorsports, naturally, will rely on the Larson team notes and on whatever he relayed to his teammates about the experience. William Byron joked it’s like being the kid in high school copying someone else’s homework. Elliott, meanwhile, felt Larson was as open as he could be about what he felt, what caught him off guard, and what felt normal to prepare for race weekend.

“I think all the fine details you have to experience firsthand, and there is really no way he can verbalize that to any of us and make complete and total sense,” Elliott said. “But I think he can hit the high spots of what he saw, what he felt, and what he thought was good and bad, where our cars need to be better or where they did a job. Then from there it’s like, OK, we have to go make laps and see.”

NASCAR last hosted national series events in Joliet in 2019. Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman won that event. All four drivers from the organization have previous race experience at Chicagoland.

But in the seven years since, the track surface has aged, and the race car is different. It creates a unique scenario where it might feel like a new race or racetrack to some.

“A little,” Elliott conceded. “Watching some of the onboards and listening to the comments, it sounds like Chicago, and having that experience in having some laps here is nice. It’s been a long time, but I do remember it. But certainly this car has some different tendencies, as we have probably well documented at this point.”

Elliott will get additional track time by running in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race on Saturday for JR Motorsports. It will be his first race in that series since last year's race at Pocono Raceway.

NASCAR will have the O’Reilly teams practice on Saturday instead of making a qualifying lap. The decision came after a heavy thunderstorm rolled through the area on Friday to affect the schedule.

“It’s been a little bit of a challenge coming back to this place and thinking through the Cup car and what I think is going to be expected on that side, or my best educated guess, and then also trying to piece together the Saturday race stuff, too, and not having done that in so long,” Elliott said. “I feel like I have a lot of catch-up to play on that front, so I’m glad we get a little longer practice for this weekend with those guys, and they didn’t cancel practice. I was getting really nervous that I was going to have to go out there and make a qualifying lap in that thing after a year plus, and that would have been interesting. So, glad we got a practice and hope it plays out in our favor.”

Elliott won the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Chicagoland in 2014. It was his first of five starts at the start. His best finish in four previous Cup Series starts is second in 2017.