WATCH: Hometown Hero Chase Elliott Suffers Early End to NASCAR Cup Race at Atlanta

Chase Elliott had plenty of high hopes for his home race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Unfortunately, his race went up in smoke in a literal sense.

On lap 219, everything seemed to run smoothly until smoke began to billow from his rapidly decelerating car. In the end, he was forced to limp back to the pit lane and retire from the race.

Speaking after the race, he said, “We got some damage on the restart. Kyle [Busch] kind of spun his tyres, I was pushing him, Kurt [Busch] was pushing me.

“We all just really jammed together hard, ended up hurting the nose some. Don’t know if that had something to do with breaking the engine or not. I hate it, but we feel like our car was pretty decent.”

This race retirement will do little to boost his championship defense hopes. Already, he has had a difficult start to the season and is yet to win a race in 2021.

However, the season is still long and anything can happen. All that Chase Elliott needs to do is move on and regroup for the next race to get himself back on track.

Chase Elliott had a difficult time before the race began

Admittedly, Elliott should have started the race in 5th place. However, his car failed pre-race inspection for the second race in succession. As a result, he dropped to the rear of the field for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

On the bright side, he was not alone in this endeavor, as two other drivers also dropped to the back. Timmy Hill and Quin Houff also got into a spot of trouble, but the two drivers were starting near the back in any case.

Nevertheless, whatever is done, is done and Chase Elliott will have to move on and look forward to the Bristol race.

READ MORE- Chase Elliott Rues Missed Chance to Run NASCAR Truck Race on Dirt, but Is Excited for Bristol Dirt Nationals