Not all Hendrick Motorsports stars did well today. The stellar Cup Series team’s poster boy, Kyle Larson, charged to the lead at first. But then he lost control of the No. 5 Chevrolet and hit the wall on lap 56—a subsequent hit from Chase Briscoe sealed his day. But his teammates were solid, as all achieved top-ten finishes. Yet there was some unexpected trouble that hit Chase Elliott‘s perfect day.

Acting like a superspeedway, Atlanta usually throws up neck-to-neck accident-prone pack racing. But what Elliott faced took place on the pit road. The No. 9 Chevy appeared to get into a logjam stirred by outgoing Cup driver Corey LaJoie. But Elliott did not think much about it.

Chase Elliott dials down pit road face-off

We all know how Corey LaJoie became the Hailie Deegan of the Cup Series. His long-time team, Spire Motorsports, will be letting him go at the end of this season. Is that reason enough for him to spur a pit road traffic jam at Atlanta Motor Speedway?

Maybe, but Chase Elliott does not blame him much for it. Echoing his pit road penalty from the February race, Elliott again left his Atlanta chances at risk due to a pit problem. During a pit stop at the Quaker State 400, the HMS popular driver radioed that he thought his wheels were straight. A reason that may have led him into Austin Cindric’s left side.

But then as Chase Elliott controlled his wheel more steadily, LaJoie drove his No. 7 from the left. Then he got in three-wide with Elliott sandwiched in the middle of him and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. The brief paint trading did not bother Elliott much though. He said, “I don’t think it impacted how it drove, not under these circumstances. I think we got pretty lucky on that.” 

He did mention LaJoie’s hand in this, albeit accepting the situation. “I was coming out, there was someone to my outside and then the 7 jumped out and I think there was someone… it’s always hard to see if there’s anyone to their left but certainly, the 7 made it three-wide and it’s extremely narrow.”

This stood out as the only blemish on Chase Elliott’s day. After starting 16th, the HMS driver wheeled his car to 8th by stage 2 and maintained it till the end. “I think we did our job today, can’t speak for the next two weeks. Thought we had a solid day overall and stayed out of most of the mess, got a couple stage points, and got a solid finish. So, I don’t have anything to be upset about.”

This pit road fiasco seemed out of the blue and accidental. However, jogging our recent memory would reveal a different situation just a month ago.

Chase Elliott’s pit road dilemma continues

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The Atlanta dust-up was not the only time Chase Elliott faced pit road issues. Today he came close to jeopardizing his race, but at Indianapolis, he ended up doing it. Apparently, the No. 9 driver broke the blend line rule and incurred the wrath of NASCAR. After the pit stop on lap 25, Elliott’s car drifted out of the acceleration lane and over two painted white lines.

Significantly, he has all four racing tires on the surface that ultimately handed him a penalty. Even Kyle Larson, who escaped the punishment, was confused about the rule. “None of us knew what the rule was.” 

While the No. 9 crew chief Alan Gustafson vehemently demanded an explanation, Larson later broke down the controversy around the rule. He said, “Afterwards, I think Chad Knaus (vice president of competition at HMS) was getting our opinion. Drivers on a group text were in, all that. When I was here for the 500, you’re allowed to kind of straddle that first white line. You’re not allowed to get your lefts over it. I was kind of used to that and did that on Friday. I think it was Saturday probably before the Xfinity race, I think they had released the rule.”

Apparently, pit road issues follow Chase Elliott pretty frequently. Holding 20 points above the cutline after Atlanta, though, is a bit of a soothing situation for the driver.