NASCAR races in almost every weekend throughout its season, so it’s sure to get hectic over time. But what do these elite drivers do in preparing themselves for the race weeks? To answer this very question, Hendrick Motorsports driver, Chase Elliott recently revealed all the details regarding race prep from the start till the time he gets into the racecar.
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While speaking on the Pure Athlete Podcast, Elliott revealed, “So most of all our weeks look pretty similar. Like there are the occasional Saturday night races that come along so that can kind of change your week schedule some.”
“But for the most part, all of our races are on Sunday afternoon. So you get up Sunday morning, your day typically starts around 10 or 11 o’clock, just say for a 2:30-3 o’clock race or something like that.”
Additionally, Elliott mentioned if there was a Formula 1 race scheduled that Sunday, he would wake up early in the morning to watch the Grand Prix and catch up with everything. He added, “So I get up, watch their race, and see what’s going on, wherever they are in the world. Which I think is super cool and admire the craft and whatnot that those guys do just like any other sports.”
“So like watching that, and I get up and get some breakfast and we have a lot of media obligations and sponsor obligations. NASCAR is driven by sponsors. Ultimately, making sure that all of our partners are taken care of at the racetrack if they have guests… We try to say hey to them.”
He further explained that things can sometimes become quite hectic depending on the race. But overall, it’s the media and sponsor duties followed by a break for lunch.
Chase Elliott explains what he prefers to eat ahead of his races
Speaking further into the podcast, the HMS star mentioned that he preferred to grab a light lunch, instead of eating too much ahead of the race. When asked if he had a go-to meal plan, Elliott said he preferred something simple like grilled chicken and rice or something, “super super straightforward.”
After finishing his lunch, the Dawsonville native said that they go into a final team meeting to discuss various details regarding setup changes, among several other things. Once the discussions are wrapped up, the NASCAR driver intros begin and then everyone starts prepping for the race ahead.
However, the 2020 Cup Series champion argued that he wasn’t quite interested in these shenanigans. He said, “I am such a competitive person, I don’t take it lightly. I am just ready to get the show going like I want to get racing, I want to get started.”
Elliott reiterated that his focus by that time was to get into the race car and start panning out the race ahead of him, instead of participating in all the circus-like showcases that take place to promote the drivers ahead of each event.
