Jeff Gordon reveals how Chase Elliott ran out of fuel at Watkins Glen
All HMS drivers other than race winner Willaim Byron produced a lacklustre race.
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Chase Elliott and Jeff Gordan (Credits: IMAGO)
Four times NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon has explained what really happened to Chase Elliott at Watkins Glen that led to the No:9 Chevy Camaro ZL1 running out of fuel. The sudden halt on lap 55 ended what would have been a solid point finish day for the 2022 Cup champion. He is now 103 points off the cut-off and needs to win the season finale at Daytona to progress.
The whole Hendrick Motorsports team had a lackluster Sunday. On the one hand, Willaim Byron produced one of the best races of his career to secure his fifth win of 2023 and the first road course win of his Cup career. At the same time, his teammates were having a bad day. Alex Bowman spun out and lost multiple positions, while Kyle Larson lost out after speeding in the pit lane.
While talking about the Elliott incident, the HMS vice-chairman pointed out that it was a big miscalculation. He said that the No:9 Chevy was stretching the strategy to close the gap on rivals and, doing so, came up a bit short on the first stop. The team was preparing for a potential caution and restart, but the fuel ran out.
“But clearly, miscalculation with the nine car, and that was huge. He was stretching — he came in a little bit short the first stop, and so they were trying to stretch it to get closer on the strategy of the others. You always want to pad yourself here just in case there’s a lot of restarts at the end. The fuel just wasn’t there. It was really unfortunate,” Gordon said, as reported by Speedway Digest.
In case you missed it: “Don’t get caught up in something stupid,” Bubba Wallace set his agenda for the regular-season finale at Daytona after Watkins Glen
Jeff Gordon claims Alex Bowman or Chase Elliott can win at Daytona
Unlike the last two RC races, where both Elliott and Bowman were genuine contenders, at Daytona, every driver with a good enough car and a bit of luck are a contender. This added to the chaos that comes with superspeedways, makes the finale more uncertain than ever.
But Gordan pointed out that the No:48 and No:9 teams have been in a must-win situation throughout the last few races; hence the mindset remains the same. But the finale adds that extra pressure considering it’s a playoff spot that is at stake. But still, Gordan sees it as a task that can be accomplished.
“I think we’ve felt like we’ve needed a win for a few weeks, so I think that you always race to win, so it doesn’t really change your mindset. It just puts a little bit more pressure because of what is at stake. But I also know that they can certainly win there,” the Hall of Famer said.
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Justin P Joy
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