Chase Elliott’s hope to finally get the $1 million All-Star prize at Dover came crashing down, without any fault of his own.

He was first involved in the early Lap 2 crash triggered by Ryan Preece and several others, including Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suárez, and Michael McDowell. But if that wasn't enough, the second Big One did it all.

In the final laps of the first segment, Riley Herbst's No. 35 was tagged by Alex Bowman, and that set a chain reaction involving nine other cars that including the No. 9.

Add to this the new NASCAR format for this series, which kind of awards and calls for such aggressive strategies, as it is a non-points race. Elliott reflected on the same, adding, “Yeah, it’s been aggressive. I mean, certainly different tire strategies, I think had people, you know, doing some different stuff here,” Elliott explained.

“You know, we pulled the post out of the stage and then obviously trying to figure out, you know, where you're gonna reset and all those things. So yeah, just a little strategy being played. Unfortunately, yeah, got caught up in this.”

There was another angle the 2020 Cup Series champion wanted to explore, whether the Chevrolet had improved on short tracks. This goal too stood unfinished.

“Hard to say. We've, you know, we've spun there on the first lap and then had to put our scuff set of tires on,” Elliott said.

“You know, it's just kind of silly, right? We got, we ended up four down, so. And we didn't really do anything wrong, so we were having to try and make up for that, unfortunately.”

Despite the disappointment, Elliott seemed to focus on the road ahead, adding, “I'm just curious to see where we stack up on the next one.”

But what is “the next one” and why should we be excited about it? Also, why is Elliott so jumpy about the track?

Why Charlotte could suit Chase Elliott perfectly

Charlotte Motor Speedway could give Chase Elliott the major rebound that he was looking for at Dover but could not find. The Coca-Cola 600 is run on a 1.5-mile oval, which is a track type that Hendrick Motorsports has traditionally excelled at.

Add to this the fact that Elliott has already owned the Charlotte track with a victory there alongside ten top-five finishes and 15 top-10s there.

Elliott’s driving style would also improve here, as this track rewards long-run balance and tire management as the race slowly shifts from day into night.

Plus, the most Coca-Cola 600 wins are also held by Hendrick Motorsports, making this an evening that all of us, including Elliott, would be looking forward to.

Written by

Uday Jakhar

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason