First Practice Speeds | Richmond Schedule
A rough start to the playoffs has not impacted Chase Elliott’s confidence level as he readies for Saturday’s Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway.
Elliott suffered through a bad afternoon in last week’s playoff opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Hendrick Motorsports driver was an innocent victim caught up in Jamie McMurray’s accident on Lap 234. The impact injured Elliott’s shoulder but he is not feeling any physical problems as he prepares for playoff race number two.
“Yeah, I got it checked out,” Elliott said. “All good. No worries. No apparent issues with it.”
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As for the incident, Elliott is simply putting it behind him and focusing on the next race in the playoff race. Despite falling into the bottom four of the point standings, Elliott refuses to dwell on what might have been or what lies ahead.
“We had a solid day going,” Elliott said. “We were playing catch-up a little bit from a couple of mistakes. Ultimately you limit those mistakes and try not to be behind those guys and you further forward and hope you miss the melee.
“So, I think it’s going to be wild throughout the next couple of weeks. Obviously, everybody talks about how wild next week is going to be, but nobody really knows. It could be the smoothest race ever. Who knows until we get there.”
Elliott is hoping for a much smoother race Saturday night at Richmond, a track where he has steadily improved during his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career. He finished in the top 10 in last year’s edition of the race and turned in an impressive runner-up performance at the track back in April.
He may have fallen into a hole after Las Vegas but Elliott is not changing his approach Saturday night in Richmond.
“I think this round is going to be tough,” he said. “I expect tomorrow night to be hard fought. I can’t say that I’m going to do things a whole lot different because you can get yourself in trouble trying to overreach a lot easier than you can just trying to do what you normally do. We normally try to win, so that’s not going to change tomorrow night.”
With the unknown of Charlotte’s road course on the horizon to end the opening round, the importance of running well at Richmond is much greater. But Elliott is not completely dismissing the possibility of running well in the third road race of the series a week from Sunday.
“It’s important to run good here, absolutely,” Elliott said. “I would love to go and have another sticker Saturday night and not have to worry about next week.
“But, I think at the end of the day, I’m also encouraged by the road course races this year, and how we’ve ran. It makes me pretty excited to go there next week and feel like we have a good shot, too. It depends on which side of the bed you wake up on.”
