Chase Elliott Drops 8-Word Reality Check on NASCAR

NASCAR has been receiving praise all over owing to the success of the Netflix series ‘NASCAR: Full Speed’, and how the 2024 season keeps delivering action-packed races one after another. But the NASCAR world has also been actively talking about one other aspect. The officials recently abandoned practice sessions at all Super Speedways barring the Atlanta Motor Speedway, causing many drivers and insiders to call out the sport for not giving rookies adequate opportunities.

So once NASCAR gave the fans and drivers what they wanted by having a 50-minute practice session for the weekend at Phoenix Raceway, many fans thought the sport had done the right thing. But for some veteran drivers, like Chase Elliott, this makes little to no difference.

Are practice sessions truly important? Chase Elliott reveals his take

The debate surrounding the requirement of practice sessions first sparked in Atlanta, with rookies in the Truck, Xfinity, and Cup series all missing out on better finishes or getting involved in wrecks owing to a lack of practice. Naturally, many stakeholders were vocal about the need for a practice session to fine-tune things, owing to which NASCAR did so for the Shiners Children’s 500 this weekend at the Phoenix Raceway.

While many were expecting the more inexperienced drivers to fare better owing to the 50-minute practice session, when the clock stopped ticking at the end of final practice, the usual contenders were once again back on top. Amongst these was one of the Cup Series’ biggest stars, Chase Elliott, who felt practice made no difference to the finishing order at the end of the day.

Shedding light on what he thinks of the 50-minute practice session over the usual 20-minute session, Elliott shared; “I mean, it certainly gives you some more time to kind of digest things overnight but the same people are going to be good. It ain’t going to change because we had, you know, another half hour of practice, in my opinion. I haven’t seen a huge difference and the really good teams and drivers whether we have four days of practice or five minutes, or none, I don’t think it’s a huge needle mover.”