Chase Elliott was one of several drivers caught up in a huge crash at Talladega, with the Hendrick Motorsports driver now needing a win at Martinsville to make the Championship 4
Chase Elliott believed Hendrick Motorsports “didn’t execute” during the opening stage at Talladega before he suffered the consequences.
Elliott became involved in a massive wreck that left AJ Allmendinger writhing on the ground in agony, with NASCAR safety crews criticized for their response. The incident eliminated Elliott from the race along with several other drivers, meaning he now needs a victory at Martinsville next week to progress to the Championship 4. It comes after Carson Hocevar spoke out on his incident with William Byron at Talladega
He expressed frustration that he and Hendrick teammates Byron, Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman allowed a strong position near each other on track to fall apart during the initial pit stop sequences before the crash. Noah Gragson pointed the finger at one NASCAR star for causing the crash.
READ MORE: Noah Gragson blames Erik Jones for NASCAR crash that ruined Chase Elliott’s dayREAD MORE: Carson Hocevar speaks out after Byron incident at Talladega Superspeedway
Speaking to reporters outside the infield care center after his release, Elliott said: “The way the sequence went, I felt like we had ourselves in a pretty good spot with the way the sequence was and we just did not execute that well, I felt like, as a group.
“Ultimately but ourselves back in the back of the pack, unfortunately, and got caught up in the mess.”
Describing what he witnessed from the high-speed collision, he explained: “I saw someone get turned sideways. Kind of like normal, just hoping you can get it slowed down in time. I haven’t seen it back, but I got turned sideways there, somehow, some way, then some more stuff after that.”
Despite finding himself in a dangerous playoff spot heading into next week, he stated: “I’m excited about it. Unless we won today, we were likely going to be in a very similar situation next week.
“I hate it. I don’t know what you do about those situations, right? We were back there and weren’t doing anything wild or crazy, and just get turned sideways and slid into the wreck.
“I kind of thinking back there I wish I could’ve done something different, but I don’t really know what I would’ve done. Looking forward to Martinsville, got one more shot at it.”
One of the drivers caught up in the collision, Noah Gragson, expressed frustration with the aggressive driving of No. 43 Erik Jones that triggered the incident.
However, Elliott wasn’t shocked by how the early racing unfolded, stating: “Yeah, I mean the stage points are so crucial right now. I wasn’t super surprised everybody was starting to get aggressive. Unfortunately didn’t make it through.”
Gragson observed: “I mean I was just trying to keep even with the 16, and there was a couple of times when we both got clear of him.
“He was pushing really hard in the corner, and just places that guys don’t normally push in the first stage, through the tri-oval, through the corners, just seemed a little aggressive a little early.
“But it is what it is. You start getting tagged in the left rear, then the right rear, then you start going back and forth and when they’re pushing hard in the first stage, it’s a little aggressive. I mean, we still had probably eight or nine laps left, so it was definitely a bummer.”








