Chase Elliott Left Unimpressed by NASCAR’s ‘Bummer’ Move Amid New Hampshire’s Wet Weather Controversy

After a 2 hours and 15 minutes long delay due to rain, NASCAR took everyone by surprise, opting to complete the race at New Hampshire Speedway last Sunday. Given the track wasn’t fully dry, NASCAR mandated teams to switch to wet-weather tires. This certainly was a huge improvement considering the Coca-Cola 600 was cut short under similar circumstances.

However, Chase Elliott wasn’t impressed by NASCAR’s restrictions with the rain tires and how they could be put to use in the last 77 green lap run of the race. He further demanded that teams should be allowed to call the shots in such situations, promoting a competitive racing experience.

Wet weather tires, but no competitive pit stops!

Those who stuck around for last Sunday’s race until the end would know how dramatic the conclusion of the race was. While it made sense to race on a damp racetrack with rain tires, there was no clarity on how the pit stops would work. In a normal setting, the teams make the call regarding the tire change or adjustment. But that wasn’t the case with the Loudon race, as NASCAR decided to go with non-competitive pit stops.

Basically, teams weren’t able to make gains in terms of track position while coming on the pit road. Moreover, NASCAR didn’t allow teams to go back to slicks despite the track showing signs of getting dry. However, Chase Elliott wasn’t blaming this move for their P18 finish, but he made a point about how NASCAR could make the racing better with wet weather tires.

“Part of the appeal to the NASCAR Cup Series, the top tier of our sport, is having the freedom to call your race like you want to call. And I just felt like that was totally taken out of the equation last weekend, and that was a bummer. That wasn’t why we finished bad or anything, but just from my standpoint, it would have been nice,” Elliott said ahead of the Nashville race.

The HMS star even argued that NASCAR calling the race with non-competitive pit stops didn’t leave room for drivers to gain an edge over their rivals. “Even if they were going to make you stay on wets, at least give you the opportunity to pit or stay out. Anytime that I’ve been a part of a race where they mandating when you have to come in and have to put on tires it just makes everyone, even more, the same, than we already are,” Elliott went on to add.

But NASCAR was in a sticky spot and did the most they could in the situation. Fortunately, they are planning to allow teams to make the vital pit stop strategy call in future races where they run with the rain tire.

NASCAR is in the learning process with the wet weather tire

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Let’s get this straight, NASCAR historically has never raced in rain or wet conditions. It is only in recent years that we have seen them try a different approach. The first instance was during the Richmond race, where the entire field started on wet tires as the track wasn’t fully dry. Furthermore, a new experimental tire, a softer compound, was also featured during the All-Star race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. But, on both occasions, the use of the wet weather tires was already planned, but at Loudon, this was a spontaneous call made by the governing council.

“We ran 301-plus laps today. Went into the overtime. Our fans that bought a ticket, they got to see some great, exciting racing. And there’s still some things that we’re learning through this process and in all honesty, we’d like to be out of the tire business. We’d like to just turn that over to the teams. But as we continue to take small steps and learn, eventually, we’ll get there. We just want to do this in the safest way possible,” NASCAR’s SVP of Competition, Elton Sawyer, said after the race.

It looks like NASCAR was very aware of the complaints, similar to what Chase Elliott had. And hopefully, they allow the teams to have more say with the tires and pitting strategies in upcoming races.