Chase Elliott Confesses He Had a “Long and Laughable Night” at Darlington

Hendrick Motorsports’ 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott came into the 2025 playoffs with a lot of hopes only to experience a massive disappointment at Darlington. He started the race at P21 and was only able finish the race at P17. What’s more disappointing is the fact that he was the fastest HMS car of the day, showing how bad the whole Chevy giants were.

Regular season champion William Byron’s crew chief calling the race embarrassing for the team perfectly explains how bad the Southern 500 was for Chase Elliott and his teammates. On his post-race interview the No:9 Chevy driver shared his thoughts on the poor result, admitting how it was a long day for him, and how he lost out with the long-run strategy.

It was a really long night. Yeah, we had clawed our way up to the top 10 and tried to run really long on that one run. Everyone was being real aggressive with short-pitting so we tried to run long. And then yeah, as soon as we did that, the caution came out.

Chase Elliott told NBC Sports.

The No:9 driver had multiple issues on the pit-road, which ruined their chances, making the day laughable. They had to grind hard to even secure a top-20 finish, and if not for the patience the team showed while pushing the limit, even a top-20 finish wouldn’t have happened. He has already shifted his focus to the upcoming Gateway race, just like his teammates.

It was honestly laughable at that juncture. Just came in and had an issue on pit road, had to put our heads down and grind out a top last. Just keep pushing at it. It’s been a long night for sure. We’ve got to put our heads together to try to figure out how to be better at Gateway and how to go faster.

Chase Elliott added.

Chase Elliott believes HMS has the time to bounce back

In a sperate conversation about the Darlington disappointment, Chase Elliott shared his thoughts about redemption from the whole HMS garage. He asserted that they have enough races, as well as bonus point buffer with them have some bad weeks. The veteran believes his team can get over the bad stretch soon.

You’re talking about 10 races. A lot of racing. That’s enough time to be really good for a stretch, to be really bad for a stretch, and then get really good again.

Chase Elliott said.

Further talking about the point, the former champion highlighted how the whole dynamic among the playoff grid would be massively different after every race week in the post-season, that gives them enough time to bounce back. For next week, his primary goal is qualifying better and place himself in a better position on Sunday.

And so, I think sometimes it gets lost just how many races and how long 10 weeks is, and how much can change through that period of time. For me personally, it’s what can I do this week to be better when we get to the racetrack on Saturday? And how can my Saturday help us on Sunday?

Chase Elliott added.

The comments from the Chevy driver shows he knowns exactly what he needs to do to get back to winning form and how hard it is going to be if he can’t secure better qualifying results. It would be interesting to see how everything is going to playout for the star driver in the coming races.

Also Read: Alex Bowman Admits He Had An “Unacceptable Day” at Darlington

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