Chase Elliott On The Pressure Of Facing A Must-Win Race At Phoenix


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The NASCAR Playoffs head to Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC) as the final race before the playoff bracket gets cut from eight drivers to four as they work their way towards Homestead.

Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., and Kevin Harvick have all punched their tickets, leaving five drivers racing for one spot, with a win as the only way to assure themselves continuing in the playoff hunt. Among those still alive but in need of a win in Phoenix is Chase Elliott and the 24 team, who come into this week seventh in points.

Elliott spoke with UPROXX Sports this week about the pressure of going into a must-win event as well as the changing dynamic in NASCAR with a new generation coming in and his number change coming next year.

Big week in Phoenix coming up with the last chance to get into the Championship 4. How do you handle kind of the pressure coming into a race knowing that a win is pretty much what you need to stay in the playoffs and is there any change in approach when you have a must win situation?

Yeah, I mean, we know our situation, we know what we have to do. So, you know, our job is definitely not easy, but at least we know what’s gotta happen. So we don’t have to play the numbers game, we just gotta go and try to get a sticker.

When you come in to a race like that, what is the approach and is it exciting at all knowing that it is kind of like you get to go out and you don’t have to worry about staying safe for the points or anything like that? You get to go out on the track and just kind of pedal down and go for the win?

Yeah, well, I mean, the goal is to win every week.

Right.

So it’s not like it really changes your outlook a ton. I do think that there will be some extra risks taken for the guys that do have to win to move on. You know, obviously, if you’re racing for a win, I’m not gonna go out of my way to risk it to move from 11th to 10th. But, if you have an opportunity to win, sure. I think there will be some risk takers. You know, I’ll definitely be one of those guys if the opportunity is there.

Last year, you were in the round of 12. This year you get to the round of eight at least. What are kind of the things you took away from last year’s playoff experience that maybe you’ve been able to build on and kind of help you this year?

Well, the main thing I think from last year, is, we made it further this year than we did last season. We had some great opportunity last year and looking back, it’s kind of frustrating to see that opportunity that we had and not capitalize on it. So, I think we’ve done a better job of that this year. I don’t think we’ve, you know, definitely had that perfect, but I think it’s been better. We started the playoffs strong, which is encouraging. We’ve run better you know these first eight races of the playoffs than we have the majority of the season, which is not to. So, just trying to hit our stride and hit our strong points and give ourselves a shot.

When you come from having so much success at the Xfinity Series level when you make that jump to the Cup Series, what are the biggest challenges in tempering expectations or handling the difference in competition?

Well, there’s just, you know, the amount of cars and the teams and the competitiveness definitely, I think, increased from what’s on Saturdays for sure. You see the amount of guys that can go and win a race on Sunday, you’ve got 40 cars as well, which makes it that much difficult, that much more difficult to win. But, you know, again, there’s a lot of names that come along with it. But, you know, I’m lucky to fall into a good place with a good team that made that transition easier than what it could have been.

There is seemingly a bit of a transition going on, with Junior leaving this year and Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart retiring recently. As a young driver, is it an exciting time? And kind of do you see it as an opportunity to take a step into being one of those top guys in the sport?

Yeah, that’d be great. You know, you’re always trying to, always trying to grow and get better. But, you know, definitely opportunity is there to improve upon it. And as people want to follow along and lend support. Most definitely can take all the help I can get.

Next year, you get to move into the No. 9 car that your dad once drove. What was kind of your reaction to when you found out that that was going to happen and how exciting is it to kind of continue that legacy in a sense?

I think, you said it. Just excited and you know, it kind of fits me and fits my history too. So it was definitely a no-brainer. Glad to have the opportunity to go and to do it.

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