LONG POND, Pa.: Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott couldn’t get out of Pocono Raceway fast enough.
Following Saturday morning’s practice crash, the driver of the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 had to start Sunday’s Gander RV 400 from the rear of the field.
And quickly as it appeared that Elliott was going to have a nice recovery from a crappy start to the weekend, the Dawsonville, Ga. native found himself in the Turn 3 wall.
After being evaluated and released from the infield care center, Elliott said there was no indication of something that was going wrong before the tire gave way.
“It just popped, so I guess it wasn’t happy with something,” said Elliott. “It’s just unfortunate. It’s been a rough month, little over a month now. It’s just an unfortunate rough patch.
“Hopefully we can get past it. The good news is that we are still in the summer months, so the stuff that really matters is still ahead. I just hate to come to these places and not be able to learn something from it.
“I felt like our day was finally turning around for our NAPA team. We were finally moving forward. I think we were running in the top-10 there when we crashed. I feel like we were finally getting our car going. Obviously, we crashed yesterday so this car was taking some time to get adjusted. I thought we were doing a good job of it. I don’t really know what to do about that, but just move on.”
Elliott finished 38th on Sunday and made it the seven straight race that he and the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports failed to finish inside the top-10.
Since Michigan International Speedway on June 10, Elliott has five finishes outside the top-20, including an engine issue at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway and accidents at Daytona and Pocono Raceway.
“It hasn’t been our month and a half,” Elliott told RACER.com. “It happens. Yesterday shouldn’t have happened. Today, I guess today was really just a result of yesterday. When you go to a backup car, and you’re fighting through problems and trying to make the thing drive better, you might overwork a corner or whatever. Really what it comes down to is shouldn’t have crashed yesterday and then wouldn’t be driving this car today.
“Bottom line is, don’t crash on Saturday.”
The 23-year-old’s best finish in the last seven races has been an 11th-place run at Chicagoland (Ill.) Speedway on Jun. 30.
Heading to Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International next weekend, where Elliott is the defending champion, he is eighth in points but alive in the Playoff battle with his victory earlier this season at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
