Chase Elliott on his win at Texas, bond with Alan Gustafson, relationship with his father, and more!

you're in this position to where your dad's Bill Elliott may not seem important do you understand you know the significance of of when you have moments like this as to what it does for the whole sport 2 1ev welcome welc to Kevin Harvick's happy hour presented by NASCAR on Fox we encourage all of you closers out there who listen to us on YouTube uh to make sure you give us a follow and a like and wherever else you're listening to your podcast um we went to Dawsonville Georgia after Chase Elliott won his race at Texas Motor Speedway and we're able to sit down with Chase and get some insight on what the dynamic of his team is some of the things that he thinks and I thought it was a great time spent with Chase in a really comfortable setting so hope you enjoy this listen thanks for taking the time to to sit down with us today and we're in a pretty cool spot we'll explain all that later but talk to me about last week 42 race windless streak I know that those are always full of questions and with with your scenario and everything that happened with your injuries and and suspension and everything that led to this tell me the relief that you felt last week when you took the checkered flag after that race yeah well first I'm not I'm not quite used to seeing you on the other side of the interview strange I know it is OD I'm getting used to it but yeah definitely relief involved for sure I think um anytime you you know you go through a period where you're not it's not just the winning it's just really more than anything it's been not necessarily running like I feel we've been capable of running so that has been better over the last month or so and anytime that elevates to a a new level or into a position that you feel like is competitive again to me that is the biggest hurdle like I can I'm happy to answer the questions and do this or that when you feel like you're running good enough to be in the mix um I think a lot of the frustration and and um and whatnot behind the scenes has just been like man I know we're better than this I know we can do we can do better and at least get ourselves in position and then obviously winning is um just kind of the cherry on top but I think it's more running well yeah uh for me personally that that is that relief and and the satisfaction that I'm hunting on a on a weekly basis so last week watching the race like it just looked like another step of aggression on the restarts I felt I felt that you were one of two or three cars that could that were really aggressive on the restarts and it paid off for you obviously you had the strategy early so explain to me why last week you were I mean I know you're you're always aggressive and and maybe some of that is just the timing of knowing you had you were in position to win had the opportunity but explain that that aggression from last week yeah that's been a popular question over you know the course of the week I think um it's probably my fault we we talked about it a lot on the broadcast just just pointing it out but it was super it was it was noticeable yeah know I think um I think that type of aggression has been there at different times uh it's always easy to point that out when you win the race or when things go really well or um or we have a week like we did you know this past weekend I think it's an easy topic to talk about when things are in your favor I just think that that aggression has has been there previously maybe just on days where we haven't run as good or you might not necessarily notice it obviously for me I I'm in the seat firsthand so I see stuff that maybe you might not catch on TV or or if you're not necessarily up in the front couple of rows so I don't know that it's not been there before I've tried to do a better job of knowing when to exercise aggression at the right time and obviously experience helps that and I also felt like we had a strong car so I think all those things weigh into the decision of you know do you do you take these guys three wide do you do you make this move um or not and I just felt like we were we had a legitimate shot you know at the win and and those opportunities were really good at the right time to to make them so um and honestly now it's just I I think in the past some of it is like risk reward right you know is this this is this worth the risk right now um to crash basically uh in order am I going to have a shot to win am I doing this to run 10th you know what is that risk reward and nowadays with the way this this thing races it's like you just almost have to live on that side of the fence more often than not or you're just going to get totally taken advantage of so um a little bit of of each of those things but I I think nowadays just the you have to be willing to take some more risks if you want to if you want to be up in those front few rows what's it like to race on a racetrack like like last week where it's just every lap is just on the edge Taking Chances I mean you talk about Taking Chances but in order to run fast at Texas you have to to take chances and and then you you live in that that culture of what the Gen 7 car has brought that you just said you have to you have to live on the edge and and and so you you go through that and and you look to be on the aggressive side the one car was on the aggressive side there was there was two or threey of you guys that that were on the aggressive side when you when you get in a race like that how do you set your mindset to be different than every other week knowing that you have to survive right but you also have to take a lot of chances yeah I think something that a lot of people don't realize is I mean I I could have gone home Sunday night and crashed in that in that race and I would have not been any more surprised by Wrecking as as winning the race like those two things both of those two things could have very easily happened I mean there was four or five instances in the event that I had big moments in one and two that I might not have caught like just yeah wasn't necessarily doing anything different just happened to catch it that time and and I look around and I see other guys in that same boat and and some people got lucky and drove off a two and some guys ended up ended up cra so that that surface there as you well know is just it's super edgy the tire they have to bring to live in three and four is not what one and two wants um at all so it just uh you know it puts you into a position that you you have to be right there on the edge of of that corner entry into one this car seemingly is making a lot of pace is how much entry Pace you can have and how hard you can drive in the corner and kind of shift that shift that corner around um and that comes at a big risk when you're when you're driving in deep so Allan has obviously been with you for a long time I'm I'm a huge Allan guson fan I I love his intensity you're pretty mellow dude I mean you you get wound up during the times but you're you're I would classify you as pretty mellow outside of the car he's mellow but I I've been around him enough to and probably made him mad enough at sometimes that he's you know he's raised his voice and and you see the intensity whether he's riding his bicycle how does that how does that push you because he he went to bat for you afterwards saying I I just don't understand what what all the talk is about and you know rattled off your stats knew immediately he like we LED this many laps we've we've finished in the top five this many times and and this is what we're doing like I don't understand what you guys are talking about but ex explain that relationship to me because from the outside looking in it seems it seems like he's the one that's always pushing and you know that that that crew chief driver balance is is important explain your relationship and and how that operates between the two of you yeah well I am glad to hear that because I'm a huge fan of his to and um he's not a guy that makes a lot of noise in the media or on the Internet or whatever and that's one of the things I love about him a lot is is he is just head down and and focused on doing his job and making sure that he's elevating the entire team to to be better making sure the right people are in place making sure I'm doing my part pushing me to be better um and we can just have these open and honest conversations with one another that um are hard to have some days if if if I don't feel like I'm doing my part or if if he didn't do his part right or vice versa like we can just have these conversations and there's never any ill feelings afterwards it's just like yeah you know what you're right and and and we got to go to work and make that better and that's just how our working relationship has always been and it's super simple in that sense I've always tried to let him do his job and and let himself you know let he hold himself accountable first and and he has always allowed me to be me and do the same and just let me do my part and uh and push each other when we need to and I think that's why it's worked so yeah because you hear you hear all nonsense outside of of your circle and I I think it's always interesting to hear from the driver and the crew chief that are actually in that mix that'll be honest with you and tell you hey I'm not going to be the guy that that tells you what to do with the car I'm going to be the guy that tells you what the car is doing and Allen is is um I guess he could he could come across super intense but you guys have to navigate a lot together and to me it sounds like you don't even talk about the noise outside of you handle the noise Allen is quiet and works on the car and you guys communicate so it doesn't sound like anything on the outside ever even makes it inside the doors ever and and that's exactly what you want or it's exactly what I want and and that's how he likes to go about his business too and and I think that goes back to him letting me do my part me letting him do his part he knows I'm going to have to answer a lot of the questions and he lets me do that how I feel I need to answer them but he knows that when I shut that Media Center door and I come into his office that we're going to work on the things that's going to make us go faster ultimately and that's our jobs and I love that so how how have you navigated the change because you talk about it more than he does with changing to the new car and you talk about the things that that happen in the new car like I think about the new car and I think man I hate the pedals I couldn't stay on the gas pedal I didn't like the brake pedal I didn't like the fact that I had to drive it in the corner so far I think about all these things that I hated and that transition and that relationship that you guys have how did you guys navigate going from the old car to the new car because I had to I felt like I had to redo some things and you've openly openly talked about that does he point those out do you point those out how do you how did you guys zero in on okay we got to make some changes to do what different a lot I was in that category and I just don't think people realize how much of a departure this this car is from from the last one or even vehicles that you might race along the way short track area all the above like you take all that stuff and it is just way different how you make speed how you be consistent how you make tires last Etc um I think Allen has always been at the top of the class or right up there with with whoever through different generations of crew chiefs um on knowing how to extract Pace out of the cars knowing what details in the car that he needs to be focused on and making sure that every little piece of that thing is exactly the way it needs to be um I think this transition to the new car we have he has learned a lot more about me and my driving style because we've had to openly talk about a lot of things that we just might not have had to discuss in the last car because we were making pace and and when things were right we could go fast um so you know throughout the course of last season I started challenging our guys and and Allen included I just had to be super upfront and honest with them about the areas that I felt like I was not and and still struggle with but really not doing super well um so that they could get a better understanding of the driving side and how they could help me navigate some of that because they sit there and look at the data every lap you know they Analyze That Allen's watching smt just like every other crew chief is so um I would love for you to ask him that question but from my seat I think that I think that I have really opened the door for our group to just let them help me as much as possible and look at that stuff and and know my deficiencies and uh and and kind of start to analyze some of the driver stuff probably more than he's had to do with with other guys in the past so you think this is the most criticized you've ever been in your driving career that's how I felt I I've never I felt I felt like I was criticized more in the last two years of driving the the nextg car than at any point in my whole racing career I and I couldn't figure it out without them and I feel the same way it's it's been a total team effort I mean seriously it's been uh a total team effort and and it's taken me going in there and and uh you know confessing areas that I know I've been deficient in but we've been able to kind of work around and I'm just like hey I've not done this well from day one but we've got away with it or I've not done this right but it's worked um and we've made it work at at different points in time so I start T I start trying to point these things out because as us you know when you're in the driver's seat you just see things different and um you can see the areas that you struggle in better than most and I think some of that data makes a little more sense to us when when you're in it and you see it uh and you live it firstand and and some of that even though they look at that data every day might not make total sense um so yeah I've I've opened the door and just said hey I know this is not where it's needed to be and and I feel like since I've pointed some of those things out we've really expanded on them and they've helped me not only analyze and and fine-tune but find Solutions and then and then with their better knowledge of the car and my struggles how do we build the setup and cars around that and and make things more comfortable from that side too do you think that your teammates help that or hurt that because I think there's a few different ways to make the car go there always has been right there's always different approaches different feels different things like that and sometimes I felt certain teammates actually hurt me that ran fast because of the fact that they did it different and I think that everybody's obviously different so does that you have when you have two teammates that are winning races and and doing the things that that they've have done this year and last year does that help you or hurt you I think in the past yes I I I think there were more options to making Pace on the racetrack with the old car and how you approach the corner how you could get away with different setups whereas in this vehicle in particular I think there's really only I only see one good way yeah and and those you know I I think William and Kyle both do a really really good job of driving the car that way because they drove the other car that way too and and I think that became a very easy transition for them um when when we got to this point so I think it has helped just because I don't see a lot of options I I see it I see that being the way it needs to be done um I feel like I've tried every other option and and it hasn't worked and the more that I I get in the direction that I think those guys push in the the better we are yeah so I went weigh in the Weeds on race car stuff let's go back to the after the post race the the the the Polish Victory lap in the Hooters car how long have you thought about that that like did you was it day one that you got the Hooter sponsorship uh it might not have been day one but um probably not too terribly long after that I just always thought that would be a great honor and and you know I obviously didn't know Allen at at all but had always heard nothing but great things about him as a as an individual it seemed like he had a positive impact on on a lot of people throughout the the industry and um I I told this story yesterday or the day before but a photo that has always stuck with me um you know throughout my dad's career was he you he had just lost the 92 championship by very few points at that point in time I think it was the closest Championship run and in a long time maybe up until Carl and and Tony there and um the late 2000s but nonetheless uh just I can tell a genuine smile from my father and not and he had just this genuine smile on his face congratulating Allen and and Victory Lane like he just lost the championship by by a very small margin and um for some reason that has just always stuck with me me um and maybe I'm totally reading it wrong but just kind of said a lot about his character and that he was actually excited for this guy did a good job and um that that's another reason that I I thought that uh you know what what a cool tie to just the whole picture and and the partnership and how far it dates back and and Hooters and and how they've uh been a part of our sport for many years so is that the first time you you've done it uh it was yeah I'd never Maybe like in short tracks or something I didn't know that I was necessarily doing that but purposely absolutely I always thought that when you did that polish Victory lap it just gave the fans just a much more intimate feel of of being able to see the driver and wave to the crowd because you're you're right there you're right there with them you you brought up the the the picture and one thing that I always find intriguing about people like you that have been in racing your whole life and been around it your whole life life what's the one memory that sticks out in your head that not not while you were driving but just as you were growing up like what what's what's something that you look back and say that was probably one of the coolest things I got to do as a kid where was it what racetrack what was the moment that's a great question um we try to have we try to have different good questions Chase we we don't want your we don't want the normal uh the normal BS uh race question question so we try to have a little bit of fun yeah I I respect it I um as a kid I would say the most uh special time I had growing up was you know when Dad went over to to Rays there in uh what 2000 20001 and two and I was just old enough to barely remember some of that and I was just kind of old enough to you know start realizing how cool this was and obviously you know the the state that NASCAR was in at that point in time was um high high and it was incredible and and I mean my gosh you know your dad was a part of this this show that was just on another level like and he had retired he had kind of semi-retired part-time right he had yeah well I I guess before the Dodge yeah I'm not exactly sure you know obviously they had their run in the late and then he branched off and tried to do his own deal yeah um there in like the mid90s so this was kind of the comeback this was kind of the comeback and and I think there was a lot of there's a lot of things that that went into that one I probably didn't realize it as much then but looking back on it it makes me appreciate it more I could just tell the genuine Joy he was getting out of running good again because he hadn't been he hadn't hadn't won a race in a long time they ran terrible for a few years when he tried to do his own thing I know he was stressed out you know trying to run it and race on the weekends as you know oh yeah a lot of work a lot of work trying to manage people Etc so I just felt like uh looking back on it now I see all this stuff and I'm like man yeah that was that was special he was having the time of his life he was winning races competitive with a new team he and Ray got along great um you know Mike Ford was his crew chief at the time and they were just things were rolling and um so getting to go to Victory Lane and just be a part of those couple years because that was kind of late in his career and um you he he was an older guy at that point in time that was winning races it was kind of odd I guess that was kind of when the younger crowd was coming in you were coming in yeah and um it was just really fun and I remember in particular uh I remember going to Victory Lane with him at Pocono I remember eating popcorn at the Pop Secret 400 at Rockingham at Victory Lane and it was was just uh he beat I think he beat Jimmy that day and um just thinking back on that stuff is so cool you know and realizing just how much fun he was having at that point in time and then now knowing how hard it is to be competitive at this level and for him to have gone through a period that was such a struggle to kind of come back and and get back in the mix at a at an older age and and mix it up with uh with the young guys was pretty neat yeah you have a great relationship with your with your dad and and you guys have kind of he's come through your whole path as far as bringing you up and being around the racetrack going back to racing you've been to Victory Lane with him as you go through the injury you go through the suspension what was what was probably the best conversation that you remember the best piece of advice and and conversation that you guys had in this little streak of time because things change things evolv new problems happen things move you know things change all the time so I I would obviously those conversations are always different but what's the conversation that you guys had that you're like all right I need to do this better different or I'm going to get through this with the with the injury and everything that that happened through this 42 race streak yeah you have to kind of know my dad a little bit um but he's just he's not the type of person that is g to have um those super oneline things that are going to change your life but he is uh you know someone who is just always in your corner and and I think that at the end of the day he's a guy that you might not realize just how much he's paying attention or just how much he uh cares about what you have going on or how much he knows you're struggling with you know not running well or whatever but he totally is paying attention to that stuff and to me he's the guy that keeps a really level ground of of just approach on everything and is just um you just know you have that that support but you know I think back to the injury and and you know he uh he referenced well he tripped over a watering hose and you know missed races when he was driving for Ray like and I was around for that I remember that and um he told me after it happened he's like look you know we've been we've been out here skiing stuff for a long time and 20 years or so and this is the first time you've got hurt so I think you're doing pretty good you know that's his odds are in your favor yeah so that that that's kind of you know some of the some of the way he looks at it but um yeah it's uh he is a guy that also lets me figure out a lot on my own and and I I I appreciate that because I think it's helped me grow over over the course of my life and um because he's got so much experience and you know he has opinions on a lot of things but he does keep a lot of them to himself and and I think he lets me figure out stuff on my own because I think he knows at the end of the day that's going to that's going to help me uh more at the end of the story than than the Long Haul he knows that that in the Long Haul that's going to make it better so you're in this position to where your dad's Bill Elliott there's only a couple there's only two of you that I would put in this category and that's that's you and Dell Jr the importance of you winning a race this weekend may not seem important as important to you as I view it I view it as you know when Dale would win it lifted all all Tides um when you win I I view it as the as the same thing and I've been around you enough to know that you want to be humble and and do those things do you do you understand you know the significance of of when you have moments like this as to what it does for the whole sport probably not um probably not completely I I I do understand um a lot of it I mean I I get it I get I get I know you don't like to talk about it but I mean it's a big deal and I recognize that I just um you know for me I I didn't I didn't want to start racing to to you know it wasn't a popularity contest for me I I wanted to start racing and race because I wanted to be one of the best um you know from a competitive standpoint and I've always tried to stick with that mentality and and stick with just knowing that um being me is the best way for myself to have happiness and just do my part and um and continue to let the competitive aspect of of racing drive me because that's what's always driven me since I was a little kid and um I think if I ever lose sight of that then I've got some bigger problems to to address and it's always been competition for me it's always been the The Urge and and the will to want to mix it up with people people that I respect and and um and put myself in that category well you do a good job at it and I I think it's it's it's important um for everybody to know how much effort and time and and how much pressure uh is put on I I I believe you and Dale Jor are the only two people that have had as much pressure put on you in this sport unwanted because you want to go out and do exactly you just want to be a competitor and sometimes you you just can't hide from that so we're not going to end it on that question we always end the interviews with with the same question what was your first car where is it I had a Chevy Silverado I um was my first car um not because I'm a Chevy guy but it actually was it was you would believe some of the stories that we've heard from first cars yeah so um that was my first car I had uh that car was gifted to me um by my parents obviously um um we had gone down to the snowball Derby was always right around my birthday I we were typically down there or fixing the head that way is you know that time of year late late November early December um so we went down there and yeah I just turned 16 I think we won that was the we won our first snowball Derby that year and um I guess mom or dad had had put you know the truck uh kind of hit it after I had left and got home and um had a big bow on it you know this or that when we got back from from the race so it was an amazing week because we we go down there and um I'm I'm fairly certain somebody might want to fact check me on this but I I do think we won that weekend and uh yeah got home and and had this awesome truck you know given to me for my 16th birthday and uh yeah man went to went went after it I don't know where it is I sold it you sold it so you didn't wreck it Denny Hamlin ran his into back into the back of the school bus his first car okay yeah so your yours ended yours ended with the sale which which means you were paying a lot more attention driving so maybe maybe or just got really lucky you got away with it got away with it um yeah I was uh man when I was 16 I was I I would definitely consider myself a speeder on the road but man crazy what a difference 16 to 28 makes because I am five over at the max nowadays I mean I am just cruising uh on the road I do not go anywhere fast anymore but there early on I do think I had uh had somebody watching me because it was not smart no I was I was in that same category thanks for taking the time today I appreciate it appreciate it thanks y I want to thank Chase Elliott for taking the time to to sit down and give us a little insight to his world and everything that happens with it I enjoyed uh everything that that we were able to talk about we encourage you to follow us on uh anywhere on social media at harvi happppppy pod or give us a follow on YouTube and check us out uh here on Kevin Harv's happy hour presented by NASCAR on Fox thanks for listening [Music]

Channel: NASCAR on FOX

Views: 37,010

Keywords: Kevin Harvick, Happy Hour, FOX, FS1, sports podcast, NASCAR, racing, motorsports, interviews, athletes, sports commentary, Kevin Harvick's podcast, nascar on fox, nascar, kevin harvick, Chase Elliot, Mamba Smith, Kaitlyn Vincie, Harvick's Happy Hour, sports talk, sports news, sports debate, nascar podcast, nascar show, nascar talk, nascar news, fox, fox sports 1, fs1, stock cars, stock car racing, 2024 nascar cup series, Texas, Alan Gustafson

Id: -8_b1Rd5oT0

Length: 30min 19sec (1819 seconds)

Published: Thu May 02 2024