Chase Elliott was running second in the Brickyard 400 and 25 laps into the NASCAR Cup Series race his team followed Denny Hamlin and the other cars down pit road. However, the No. 9’s stop turned out to be dramatically different, or at least the exit was in NASCAR’s eyes as officials levied a penalty to the 2020 Cup Series champ for going over the blend line leaving pit road.
The 28-year-old vehemently disagreed with the sanctioning body’s decision and candidly shared his displeasure over the team radio.
” I mean, what the [expletive]? They sent out the [expletive] sheet yesterday,” Elliott angrily told his team. “Do exactly what they [expletive] tell us to do.”
“Did they show you the black flag?” crew chief Alan Gustafson asked.
The driver didn’t respond to the question but continued his rant.
“They didn’t say line,” Elliott insisted. “They said racing surface. So you tell me how the [expletive] I was on the [expletive] racing surface.”
“Alright focus forward,” Gustafson said, trying to redirect his driver. “They’re wrong. They’re wrong. Focus forward. Nothing we can do now. In the future, if they’re not black-flagging you, don’t stop until I get it worked out.”
“No, they were black-flagging me,” the HMS driver responded.
Despite his anger, the penalty didn’t affect his overall day as the No. 9 finished second in Stage 2 and 10th in the race.
Chase Elliott Had Company on Pit Road Penalty
Interestingly, another Cup champion, Brad Keselowski, suffered the same penalty during that stop, was equally confused by the ruling of NASCAR officials, and provided a much different response.
“So either I don’t know how to read, or they don’t know how to officiate — one of the two,” the RFK Racing driver/co-owner said over the radio.
“Above the outside white line is considered the racing surface, so that is not what the email reads,” his crew reassured him.
“I’m sorry about this, guys. That’s obviously my fault at the end of the day,” the driver apologized. “I’ve been racing here for 13 years on the oval and you’ve been able to run out like that. Get an email the night before saying you can run out like that and then get a penalty for it. I don’t even know what to say about that.”
Elliott’s Second Pit Road Penalty in as Many Weeks
What’s even more interesting about Elliott getting penalized for something on pit road is because it happened the week before at the July 14 Pocono race when the No. 9 was nabbed for speeding. It was a notable moment because it ended his streak of 92 races without a penalty for going too fast.
The driver was in a considerably different mindset in that situation but his crew chief again suggested NASCAR got it wrong.
“How much too fast were we?” Elliott asked.
“.16 mile an hour,” the crew chief responded.
“I don’t understand with the rest of the day had been okay,” the driver questioned. “I don’t feel like I was that much different.”
“That zone was way off from the get-go,” Gustafson told him. “It’s been way off. You know, you’re just flying blind on it. It’s been wrong, so just don’t focus on it. Unfortunately, they didn’t admit their own fault there.”
Alan Gustafson is being a good crew chief standing by his driver – even when he might be wrong.
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