Chase Elliott is loose and carefree with the opening of the 10-race NASCAR Cup playoffs with this Sunday’s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
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That’s quite a difference from how Elliott has been in previous playoffs, when he was nervous, particularly worried about failing to advance to the next round in the four rounds of the Cup playoffs.
Elliott, who turns 30 years old in November—three weeks after the Cup season ends, and which he’s hoping will result in another championship for him, is in the prime of his racing career. He has already won the Cup championship once (2020) and has qualified for the playoffs in nine of his 10 full-time seasons on the Cup circuit.
Earlier this week, during NASCAR Cup media day in Charlotte, Elliott appeared on The Teardown with The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi. When asked a hypothetical question on whether he would want double driver payouts for racing, triple the number of off-weekends, or quadruple the number of Porta-Potties on pit road, Elliott played along, choosing to triple the number of off-weekends.
But the Hendrick Motorsports driver’s response was quite serious. There was only one off weekend this year for the Cup Series. That will improve next year when Cup drivers will get two off-weekends during the course of the season.
“Increasing the off-weekends for everyone, and I think it would be a win for everyone and make people hungrier for what we have and what we do. So I think it’ll be a healthy thing.”
This year has been rough on everybody as NASCAR only gave drivers one weekend off during the 36-race season. Next year, that will increase to two off-weekends.
The Team’s Truck Drivers Are the Unsung Heroes, Says Elliott
“I think it’s natural for that a little bit,” Elliott said when asked if he and his fellow drivers feel a bit burned out by the non-stop schedule. “Probably not as much as it could be for certain roles.
“Like the truck drivers and the guys that are on the road constantly. I think that would definitely be a really tough spot. I give those guys a lot of credit, like that whole Mexico City to Pocono (2,528 miles) deal this year was just incredible. I felt terrible for what they had to endure to make those shows go on. And they are the reason the show does go on, and I think that’s always important to remember,” he added.
Then there are so-called fans who criticize drivers for wanting to maybe shorten the season. “People sometimes are like, ‘Well, of course you want less races. You don’t want to work as much.’ Not true,” Elliott said.
“I’m fine running 50 races. Great, let’s run 50 races between February and Labor Day. Weeknights, whatever you want to do. I’m totally fine racing as much as you want to race. I just think the calendar year time we burn up is what we could help with in creating some hunger in those off months.”
