“We’re All Better Than That”: Chase Elliott’s Harsh Take On NASCAR’s “Embarrassing” Look

Even though Chase Elliott is someone who usually reserves his blunt thoughts on most occasions, ahead of the upcoming NASCAR Cup race at COTA, the Hendrick Motorsports driver didn’t mince his words about last year’s race. Elliott, who was out of the race in 2023, and instead watched it from the booth, shared his honest opinion on how the NASCAR race looked from his perspective.

Speaking to the media on Saturday, Elliott said, “Just from my perspective, not being in the race, I thought it was just really embarrassing, to be honest. I just remember not wanting to watch. I was like, ‘Is this what we look like all the time?’ I can just imagine myself being like from other forms of motorsports, watching the end of that thing, I would be like, that’s not, it’s just not the integrity of the product.”

“It was just bumper cars. It was just silly. We’re all better than that. It was just kind of disappointing from my seat to see it unfold that way.”

Chase Elliott was glad Tyler Reddick won at COTA in 2023

Further opening up on his thoughts on the nature of the racetrack in Austin and, in particular, the infamous Turn 1, Chase Elliott added how inviting that turn is for drivers to do something “silly.” Having said that, the #9 driver claimed he was glad that last year, the deserving driver won.

“I’m just glad the best car won because Tyler could have easily been crashed and knocked out of the way and that would’ve been disappointing from my seat just because of how dominant he was. He really deserved to win the race and he did a great job of protecting what he could,” Elliott added.

Heading into this Sunday’s race, Tyler Reddick is once again the favorite to win it as per the odds by CBS Sports. For Chase Elliott, he is right behind Reddick as the 2nd favorite.

In fact, if Elliott ends up winning on Sunday, he will not only end his long winless draught, but he will also come one step closer to breaking the record of Jeff Gordon.