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Chase Elliott said a comment former Hendrick Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne made years ago, about how narrow his window was to get his car right compared to Jimmie Johnson’s, changed the way he thinks about racing.
Elliott told the story to Andrew Kurland earlier this month, before the series returned to Las Vegas. He heads into Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway, where he won in March.
Elliott: ‘My window to get it right is like this’
“I heard Kasey Kahne describe, years ago, I was listening to the race on the radio, I wasn’t racing,” Elliott said. “He had a good day at Martinsville, ran first or second or something. Maybe he finished second or third, Jimmie won the race. He’s like, ‘Yeah we were really good, my window to get it right is like this and Jimmie’s window to get it right is like this, and that’s fine.’”
Kahne drove Hendrick’s No. 5 Chevrolet from 2012 to 2017, when Johnson was winning titles in the No. 48.
Elliott said the idea that stuck with him is finding the window where the car does what he asks. He used his runner-up finish at Las Vegas in March as an example.
“I know the car was doing the things that I wanted it to do. I was just getting really good responses out of different parts of our car that I asked for, a lot,” Elliott said. “Because I was like, ‘Hey! If I ask for this and we’re able to get it, at least we run good.’ For me it’s just finding a way to open up that window.”
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Elliott’s season
Elliott, the 2020 Cup champion, won Hendrick’s only two races of the regular season, including the spring race at Martinsville on March 29, when he came from the 10th starting spot. He finished second to Denny Hamlin at Las Vegas in March.
His Chase has not gone as well. He was caught in the Lap 132 crash at Talladega and finished 36th, and he is out of title contention, 218 points behind Hendrick teammate Kyle Larson.
Martinsville record
Elliott also won the fall Martinsville race in 2020 and finished third in it last year, behind William Byron and Ryan Blaney, as Pit This Time’s fantasy preview noted.
The Xfinity 500 is Sunday, November 1, at 2 p.m. ET on NBC from Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia.
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