Let’s be true to ourselves, who loves bland, lackluster races in NASCAR, without the element of thrill and a bit of debris flying on the track? Well, the answer is assuredly that only a handful of NASCAR enthusiasts fall into the category, who prefer a clean race, without any contention. However, this does not assert the fact, that the high-octane drama is derived out at the cost of the safety of the drivers.

With NASCAR set to gear up for the final race of the Round of 12 in Roval, the fandom is relieved of the fact that it is set to witness and resonate the thrill from the past year’s road course races, which were jam-packed with high octane drama. Similarly, it is not just the NASCAR fans who are exhilarated by the fact, but also the drivers like Chase Elliott, who spilled the beans on NASCAR’s implementation of the old rule, while taking a sly jab at NBC.

Chase Elliott delivers his stance on NASCAR’s new rule implementation

The 2023 Cup Series bore witness to many firsts; the first street course in the history of NASCAR, Chase Elliott missing out on the playoffs for the first time in his Cup Series career, and Joey Logano being the first driver as a reigning champion to be eliminated out of the contention in the first round of the playoffs. The ongoing season also saw the rise of road course races in its schedule, an aberration in the longstanding history of NASCAR.

One of the reasons that can be attributed to the lackluster performance, is the elimination of stage breaks from the road course races. The races at Indianapolis and Watkins Glen, were nothing less than drudged long green flag races, without the elements of intrigue. Owing to this, the NASCAR authorities were compelled to re-introduce the stage breaks in the playoff race at Roval and also to satiate the thirst for on-track thrills of the audience. It is not just the audience who welcomed the move by NASCAR, but drivers including Chase Elliott.

In a pre-race interview, Elliott in a question asked by Frontstretch, stated, “I wasn’t surprised, to see it come back. We saw those races go caution and that’s not gonna fly, that’s just part of the deal, so whether it’s TV or NASCAR, whatever, it maybe we weren’t filling the quota so that something’s gonna change and I think that was the easiest way to kind of fix it. 

“Which to be honest I would rather do the stage cautions than I had them throw some random cautions, so I think that’s a better and I think that’s a more fair way to go about it”, Elliott further added.

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Nonetheless, the Hendrick Motorsports driver is still in contention for the owner’s championship and still hunting for his season’s first victory. With the next race at Roval, where he has seized two victories in the past, Elliott is surely a favorite to sweep the race.

Apart from concentrating on his playoff run, Elliott also appeared for the Smokey Yunick Award, receiving an award on his uncle Ernie Elliott’s behalf, who was a crew chief as well as an engine builder. The prize was awarded to individuals who belonged from a humble beginning and made an impact in the world of motorsports.

Receiving the award for his uncle, Chase Elliott expressed, “He’s always just a good person to talk to post-race. He pays a lot of attention — he doesn’t like to admit that he pays a lot of attention, but he does. … Just the innovation that he brought at the time period that he did, he was so far ahead of the curve in so many different ways.”

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Having said that, it will be interesting to see what is in store for Chase Elliott and whether he is able to defend his crown as the King of Road Courses, or if the 2023 season will be a year of heartbreak.