| NASCAR CUP SERIES CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES JULY 3, 2026 |
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of running double duty in the NASCAR Cup and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at Chicagoland Speedway. | MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom |
| NASCAR CUP SERIESCHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAYTEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTESJULY 3, 2026 |
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of running double duty in the NASCAR Cup and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at Chicagoland Speedway. | MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom |
Media Availability Quotes: Elliott on NASCAR’s return to Chicagoland Speedway: “I’m excited to be back here. When we used to visit, I thought that it was always a great stop on our schedule, and one that we made quite a few times over the years early in my career. I thought we had some good runs throughout that time period. Certainly, it was better than the street course was for me, so hopefully this weekend’s a better effort, and we can try and just put together a solid day. We need a good solid day, so hopefully we can put that together this weekend on Sunday. And then, yeah, it’ll be nice to be back in the O’Reilly car. I haven’t been in a Saturday race in a while. It’s been like over a year, I think, so I’m kind of curious to see how that goes. I appreciate Dale (Earnhardt Jr.), the boss and just everybody for having me and letting me do it. Hopefully, I can get up to speed quick and get going.” Recognizing that not all intermediate tracks are the so-called cookie cutters, these types of tracks have been very entertaining. Drivers seem to enjoy them with this car. Do you expect a similar race product and race craft as you’ve seen in Kansas or Charlotte?“I think so. Really, all I have to go off of is the conversations I’ve had with Kyle (Larson) from the test. I mean, outside that, I don’t know. I’ve watched a lot of video from that, but it looks like it will race well. I think the big thing is just going to be how do our cars navigate the bump in (turns) 3 and 4. Is that bump and how rough these cars ride at different points in time going to prohibit you from running a lane that you need to run to have fresh air? If the answer to that is ‘yes’, then how late into the run do you have to go to get the tires pumped up well enough to have a good enough ride to run across a section of the racetrack that’s not too long of a distance. So until we kind of get into those racing environments, I don’t really have those answers, I guess. But it looked like a lot of fun from the onboard. Obviously, he was out there by himself, but it looked like a lot of fun. It looked like the Chicago that I remember from the last couple of trips that we made. I think it has a lot of potential to race really well, as long as we can navigate around that bump and have options from that perspective.” I think you’re 17 points out of fifth. Given how the seeding for the Chase for the championship works, do you view being top-five as something that’s extremely vital, or are you just not concerned that if you perform the championship will work itself out? How do you view where you are in the final regular season standings?“Yeah, I want to get as far forward as I can. Where that is, I don’t know, but I want to try and stack as many points as I can between now and the last race and just kind of see where it all shakes out. I view that stuff from a pretty simplistic standpoint. You do a good job and you get rewarded. And if you don’t, you’re going to fall back. We had two bad weeks and we lost spots. That’s kind of how it should work. We had a good run of races there for a period of time, and we were up there in the points and had a few spots better than we are now. To me, that’s all up to us. We just have to perform at a higher level than we have last couple weeks; stack some more points, get some stage points, all those things, and the seeding will reward you and it will place you where you deserve to be.” Given the amount of time since the series was last here and the fact that it is a brand-new race car, do you almost look at this race like it’s a new race? It’s a new race weekend, a new racetrack type of deal…“A little. I mean, again, watching some of those onboards and listening to the comments, it sounds like Chicago. Having that experience and having some laps here is nice. It was a long time ago, but I do remember it. So, yeah, I think a little bit of both. But certainly, this car has some different tendencies, as we probably have well documented at this point in time. But for me, it’s been a little bit of a challenge kind of coming back to this place and thinking through the Cup car; kind of what I think is going to be expected on that side, or my best educated guess. And then also trying to piece together the Saturday race stuff, too, just having not done that in so long. I feel like I’ve got a lot of catch-up to play on that front. I’m glad we get a little longer practice for this weekend with those guys and they didn’t cancel practice. I was getting really nervous that I was going to have to go out there and make a qualifying lap in that thing after a year-plus. That would have been interesting. So, yeah, glad we got to practice and hope that it plays out in our favor.” The test that (Kyle) Larson did, what can he tell or how can he explain things, like drivers to drivers, when he comes back to you guys and explains what he experienced that you all will want to listen to and try to put in that notebook?“I mean, I think just as much detail as he’s willing to share. Obviously, that’s up to him on how much of that he wants to share or not. I feel like he was really open about what he experienced; what caught him off guard, what was kind of normal, all those things. Look, I think all the fine details, you have to it experience firsthand. There’s really no way he can verbalize that to any of us and it make complete and total sense. But I think he can hit the high spots of what he saw, what he felt, what he thought was good, what he thought was bad, where our cars need to be better, and where they did a good job. And then from there, it’s like, okay, we’ve got to go make laps and kind of see. But yeah, I think it’s going to take a minute to get up to speed for everybody that wasn’t at the test, to be honest. Hopefully, we can do that quickly and get to a place that we feel confident and make changes from there.” How much will the extra track time with the O’Reilly race help you this weekend?“Yeah, I hope a lot. Like I said, it’s been a minute. The cars have evolved, I’m sure, since last year. I just haven’t done a lot of that racing at all. I watch it and I see it, and you’re kind of studying while you’re not really trying to study, I guess, in a way while you’re watching those races on Saturday’s. But yeah, I think it’s going to be tough for me. I mean, I told Mardy (Lindley, crew chief) this week to give me a minute because it’s going to take me a few laps. I just hope I can get up to speed in a semi-reasonable manner and try to keep the car going straight in one piece; rely on some of the information and confidence that they have in certain things with their cars and just go race and see where we stack up.” I saw on Wednesday you were at the England-Congo World Cup game. How was that? What was that experience like? And had you been to a pro soccer game before?“No, I’ve never been, and I’ve never been to a World Cup game either, so that was really cool just to experience that. Obviously, you know, just the different cultures and all the different people that it brings together I think is really cool. I had a good time. I don’t know a lot about soccer. I just had the opportunity to go. I thought it would be cool to see it and just kind of take some time to learn a different sport; learn something new and kind of see what it was all about. I’ve watched a handful of the games before that, and I’ve watched a few after that, too. It’s neat to see it in person and then come back and watch it on TV. It would have been really cool if the USA had been playing. I thought that was a really electric game the other night, at least on TV, it seemed that way. But yeah, it was really cool, and I would love to maybe check another one out at some point down the road.” What was the atmosphere like that night? “I wouldn’t say it was that much different than other sporting events that I’ve been to. But for me, I wasn’t really for either side. You know, I was just kind of there for a good time. I wasn’t really there to root on any specific side, so I definitely think that makes a difference. If you’re a sports fan and you have a team, you want to see your team do good and you’re passionate about that. I think that makes a difference for a fan. Just being in that environment, I kind of didn’t really know which way to go. But it was a lot of fun to just see it. Like I said, there were a lot of passionate fans and people that knew a lot more about what was going on than me, so I was trying to learn.” Looking at being monitor on your wrist, how much are you diving into the data throughout the season, as far as like your heart rate, your recovery, all those different things?“A fair amount, I guess. I would say probably more during the week than I do on the weekends. I mean, certainly, I’m capturing that data, as well. I think that there’s a lot of cool stuff between your sleep and some of the workouts that you do during the week. And certainly, the races are interesting, too, just to kind of see what’s what. I mean, I kind of know. Like typically, your body does a pretty good job of telling you whether or not you’re tired or whether or not you slept good. But it is interesting to see that put into numbers.” The different training that you guys do over on the Chevy side, plus the races, have you noticed a discernible difference in how that’s affected your body, your resting heart rate, all those different things?“Yeah, just generally speaking, I think at the end of the day, it’s up to the individual of much you want to work out or not and how much time you want to put into trying to improve some of those things. I enjoy working out. I feel like I have a pretty good routine. My routine’s a little different, I would say, than some of the other folks. I’m not necessarily in the facility every day. I am when I’m in town and enjoy that, too. But I have a buddy I enjoy working out with and we have a good little routine that we run through. We enjoy tracking all that and kind of pushing each other to do better. I think that impacts the car kind of indirectly, you know, in that sense. But, yeah, it’s been fun.” In (turns) 3 and 4, there’s that black patch or strip or something… something’s like repaved. Are you guys trying to avoid that or do you want to get your tires on that?“I’ll let you know after I feel it. I don’t know. I think anytime you have spots on the racetrack that are discolored to the rest of the track, it could go either way, truthfully. Sometimes sealer can be slick. Sometimes those freshly paved spots can have a lot of grip. So, yeah, it’s very circumstantial, but you’ll know really quick whether or not you want to be on it and use it or not. But if it is actually fresh asphalt, then it’s probably going to have some grip after a period of time. The stuff they used at North Wilkesboro, for instance, before they totally repaved it, it was almost like sandpaper. Like it wasn’t – I don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t like a fresh asphalt, and it kind of worked both ways. So, I don’t know. I think it just kind of depends on what it feels like when you get on it. But we’ve used all sorts of different materials, it seems like, here recently, so I need to see it.” Do you let somebody else try that first or you go try it first?“I think it just depends. Like, is it cleaned off? You know, what does it look like? Is that the lane I want to be in? Kind of get eyes on it and feel it out from there.” Can anything can top last year at EchoPark Speedway, where you were able to win in dramatic fashion? You had the charity on the car, and you’re going back there with the charity on the car again.. “Doing it again could make it better, so that’s the goal, for sure. I mean, certainly, that was an incredible way to celebrate nine years of Desi9n to Drive and all the things that went on with that event, the race and just all of it. I hope we can run that back and have that type of performance again. It certainly made all of it kind of come full circle and come together, which I really enjoyed. It was an incredible experience, and I hope we can have just a night that was half as good as that. It would be a huge win. We’re certainly going to try to put our best foot forward to go and get a win, no doubt.” You mentioned it’s going to take you at least a second to get up to speed in terms of the O’Reilly car, but I am wondering, what are some of the first things you’re going to be looking for when you get onto the track?“Well, I think just general laps. How big the bumps are will probably first and foremost, and general grip and feel. My first laps will be in the Saturday car, so I think from that perspective, it’s just like, okay, I have to recalibrate myself to this. Really, everything is going to probably feel a little new to me for a minute, I think, on that front. Hopefully after a handful of laps, I can kind of recalibrate my mind to those cars, the pace and all that. And then also, at the same time, take that time and hopefully learn kind of where I need to be, line-wise, so I can get in the Cup car and be up to speed. They’re just so different. It can really be a challenge, from what I watch on TV at least, to what I experience on Sunday’s. They look a lot different. But hopefully, just the track and the general feel will help me make up for some of the lost time.” Now we’re at the halfway point of the overall season, what is it that you feel like you’ve improved on the most this year in 2026, and what are you most proud of?“I think our high spots and our good days have been better than some of our good days last year to this point in the season. I think that when we’ve been good and we’ve been on, I think we’ve been really competitive at different points throughout the year this year. I would say the downside of that is the inconsistency. I think we’ve been a little inconsistent, and I’ve certainly made a lot of mistakes throughout the course of the year that have cost us some finishes. So we’d love to just clean some of that up, but I’m encouraged by that in a lot of ways. It’s kind of hard to sift through some of the bad days when you’re frustrated and mad, but I do think some of the high spots have been really encouraging from a pace perspective and just a performance perspective. I really think it’s been pretty good, and I think our team’s performing at a high level. So yeah, I just look forward to these next handful of races. I just want to try and get a good little string of races together, which would be really nice, and just have some good solid days. Obviously, we want to win. But if you can’t, just try and have some good solid days; minimize mistakes, myself included, and just put together some good races and see where that takes us. I feel like our team’s in a good spot, and I look forward to these next number of races, and then certainly, starting the final ten.” It was recently announced that the IROC Series is going to be joining the IndyCar Series in Washington D.C., and one of the drivers is going to be your dad. Your dad is 70 years old, and he’s still choosing to go throw on a fire suit and go race. How cool is that to just watch him race? “Yeah, it’s really cool. I don’t know why he’s doing it. I think he just really enjoys racing. And honestly, I think for him, I really think him and Ray (Evernham) are just such good buddies, and I think when Ray asks him to go do something, it’s really hard for him to say ‘no’, if you want the real honest answer. But he does enjoy driving. I don’t think in his mind it’s a super competitive thing. I think he just enjoys getting out there and making laps. I do think he pushes himself, for sure. I think, naturally, you probably don’t have a choice just from doing this all the years that he’s done it. But I think more than anything, he just enjoys going with those guys. He loves Ray and likes to help where he can. He feels like he can lend a hand, contribute there and help out what they’ve got going on. It sounds like a really cool thing in D.C., and that would be a really cool one, I think, to consider on our side of things one day, too.” |