SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Chase Elliott and his Hendrick Motorsports team waited out nearly a two-hour rain delay Sunday afternoon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to see their day end seven laps before the end of Stage 1’s Brantley Gilbert Big Machine 400.
Elliott qualified 16th on Saturday afternoon and had climbed to 11th before the first caution flag waved on Lap 11 for a Turn 3 crash involving Corey Lajoie. The first caution eventually turned into a 1 hour, 47 minute and 3 seconds rain-delay.
Once racing resumed at Lap 18, Elliott maintained his pace but with about 12 laps left until the competition caution, Elliott radioed his team that he believed he had lost a cylinder.
Despite off the pace, Elliott remained on the track while attempting to diagnose the issue with crew chief Alan Gustafson.
The team lost a lap under the Lap 30 competition yellow as they attempted to change out the ECU unit. The change didn’t work and the Dawsonville, Ga. native returned to the race one lap down.
On the restart, Elliott was 38th and attempting to move past Timmy Hill for the free pass, but at Lap 44, the engine seized sending the 2014 NASCAR XFINITY Series to the garage and done for the day.
“We don’t know but it was some type of motor issue,” said Elliott. “We went down a cylinder and then started blowing smoke out the pipes. I don’t know what it was. We’ll dig into it and see. But, I’ve been racing Hendrick engines since 2013 and this is the first engine problem I’ve ever had. So, I’ll take those odds all day long.
“We still have the best engine shop in the business and stuff’s going to happen. We’re pushing it as everyone is. So, we’ll move on to next week and see what we’ve got there.”
Sunday afternoon’s 39th place finish for Elliott was the first time the 21-year-old experienced an engine failure in 144 NASCAR National Series starts among the Cup, XFINITY and Truck Series.
“Still proud of our engine shop,” added Elliott who sat sixth in the championship standings entering Indianapolis. “They do incredible work over there and still think they are the best in the business, but stuff is going to happen.
“We are all pushing it pretty hard with engines and tape and temperatures and it’s not cool out here today. A lot of variables obviously that we don’t really know what broke, but we will move on to next week and try to go get ‘em there.”
Elliott entered his 61st Cup race hoping to become the first father-son combo to win at the Brickyard. Elliott’s father, Bill Elliott won the 2002 Brickyard 400 driving for 2018 NASCAR Hall of Famer Inductee Ray Evernham.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
