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NASCAR star Chase Elliott has given his immediate reaction to a penalty handed down to him during Saturday night’s Cup Series race at Richmond.
Elliott was sent to the rear of the field for the start of Stage 2 for vehicle interference on pit road, cutting too hard across the front of Chase Briscoe’s car and getting too close to a tire changer.
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The No. 9 car’s night was ended later in the stage anyway, being clipped hard by Kyle Busch when trying to clear a huge wreck which ended up involving 12 cars. Unfortunately, Elliott was turned hard into the wall and had his night ended on the spot.
That wreck ruined his record of completing all but one lap of the season, also ending his chances of overhauling William Byron for the regular season points championship.
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Elliott: I was too aggressive on pit stop
Speaking to reporters after his race was ended, Elliott told reporters: “I’ll have to go back and watch it, it seems like that’s happened a lot lately.
“It’s a really tough position, especially when you’re directly behind the car that’s pitting right behind your stall, because the front tire carriers are carrying two tires and you get in a position where if I get too far to the right, I’m gonna be stopped and he’s not going to be able to get out of his box.
“Obviously I’m not trying to hit his guys, I would never intentionally do that or try and make them get further left. I just don’t want to get in a position where I’m angled so far in that now I’ve blocked him in and we have a bad angle for our stop.
“All I was trying to do is take as much room as I could to get back straight and not cause another issue at the end of the pit stop. It was nothing beyond that. I’ll have to go back and watch it, obviously I got too aggressive with it.”
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