Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Chase Elliott had a good run at Homestead-Miami Speedway last week; however, it went south quickly. Late in the race at Homestead, Elliott entered pit road under caution and drove up next to Austin Cindric. Then, NASCAR gave the driver of the No. 9 car a penalty for not entering pit road under single-file conditions.
Elliott and the No. 9 team didn’t agree with the penalty, as they claimed it wasn’t for an advantage. Yet, Elliott had to serve the penalty and finished in 18th place. Before the action at Martinsville Speedway, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion addressed the penalty with the media.
“At the end of the day, it’s the rule,” Elliott said. “I understand it. At the end of the day, I take responsibility for it. I’ve not heard that one be called a lot, and I think in my defense, if I was going to have a defense, was just that I, in no way shape or form was trying to gain an advantage on the guy. I think the rule is really there to keep someone from getting a half a car length on a guy and then pulling in his pit stall and having that half-a-car length advantage of time. It’s all time, right, line to line on pit road. Any little bit you can get is big, totally understand that, and if I had pulled off next to him, absolutely, I get it.”
Piit road stacks up so bad, just like when you’re sitting in traffic right, the people up front stop and every car you go backwards the accordion gets worse, so, me being mid-pack or wherever we were, I knew the accordion was gonna happen. I was out of line left and just trying not to run over the person in front of me…I totally get it. I’m not arguing it at all, I just wish I could redo it. I’d just hate for us to tear up a car coming to pit road, knocking the nose off it or whatever. That’s all I was trying to avoid.”
Elliott understands why NASCAR gave him the controversial penalty, but he also believes his reasoning is strong. The Hendrick Motorsports driver didn’t want to tear up his No. 9 car entering pit road, but it still warrants a penalty. Elliott wishes it could have gone differently at Homestead; however, he understands why NASCAR made the call that eventually led to his 18th-place finish.
