“It Has Potential”: Chase Elliott Cautiously Optimistic About NASCAR’s Darlington Experiment

Last November, NASCAR confirmed that five tracks would switch from the intermediate-track setup to the short-track and road-course package: Bristol, Darlington, Dover, Nashville Superspeedway, and World Wide Technology Raceway. After Sunday’s race at Las Vegas, the series heads to Darlington next weekend, where the new package will debut and Chase Elliott feels optimistic about it.

The update features a simplified diffuser designed to limit underbody aero, cutting downforce and leaving cars with less grip. Drivers expect that shift to turn the race into a test where every lap demands patience and care, even when the tires are fresh.

Elliott said teams have already begun preparing in private as they try to get a handle on what awaits them once the cars hit the track. “I know there’s definitely a lot of conversation going on kind of behind the scenes getting ready for Darlington. Probably kind of depend on how it goes, would be my guess,” he said via Frontstretch.

“I mean, I think that definitely an interesting place to try it. Or I guess not try it, but the way the schedule kind of felt. I think it has potential to be exciting. For sure.” Elliott even compared the shift to the chaos that arrived when the current car first appeared in the NASCAR Cup Series.

“It kind of reminds me of, like, that first year we had of this car and just how massive of a change that was at that time. This will be a pretty big one. And it might not, it could not be a big deal. It might not look any different, but it certainly has potential to be,” he said.

He also pointed to the removal of the diffuser as the change that could surprise the most. These cars generate a large share of their downforce from beneath, and removing a piece of that system could alter how they behave in traffic and through the turns.

Darlington already has a reputation for chewing up tires, and drivers say the revised package could turn that trait into a bigger factor once the race begins.

Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe’s take on the new aero updates for Darlington

On his podcast, Actions Detrimental, Denny Hamlin said the updated package has already nudged short-track racing in the right direction by around ten to fifteen percent. At Darlington, however, he expects the track to throw a bigger challenge.

Hamlin predicted tire falloff could reach 4 seconds or more, forcing teams to keep an eye on tire wear from the drop of the green flag.
Chase Briscoe echoed that outlook, suggesting the race could become the toughest test on the calendar.

Added power will play a role, he said, but the bigger factor is the removal of the diffuser. After spending more than a week running laps in the simulator, Briscoe said the track proved difficult to tame, with the car stepping out of corners after corners.