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Chase Elliott Caught Up In Multicar Wreck At Talladega, Title Hopes On Life Support

Jared Turner Written by Sports EditorJared Turner
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Chase Elliott

Before Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway began, Chase Elliott needed a few good breaks to make it into the Championship 4.

Now, he practically needs a miracle.

Caught up in a multicar wreck not of his own making in the final laps of Stage 1, Elliott suffered major damage to his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. And with that, his day was done.

Even worse, NASCAR’s perennial most popular driver suffered a devastating blow to his championship hopes with only one race left in the Round of 8 from which the Championship 4 will be set.

How Did Chase Elliott Get Caught Up In The Talladega ‘Big One’?

When Erik Jones tagged the bumper of Noah Gragson at the front of the field in Turn 3, Gragson lost control and skated down the track into AJ Allmendinger. And from there, the “Big One” — as the ominous multicar wrecks so prevalent at Talladega are commonly known — was on.

Despite running a good distance behind where the wreck started, Chase Elliott got swept up in the aftermath. Or call it the domino effect.

“I saw someone get turned sideways,” Elliott said via Team Chevy PR. “I was trying to get slowed up like normal and ended up getting turned sideways into some other cars. And then they slid back into me. I hate it.”

Gragson called out Jones for triggering the accident, which involved nine cars.

“He was pushing really hard in the corner, places that guys don’t normally push in the first stage,” Gragson said. “Whether it’s through the trioval or the corners. It just seemed a little bit aggressive in the first stage. And we still had nine laps left. So, that was definitely a bummer.”

Chase Elliott Faces An Uphill Climb To Qualify For Championship 4

Chase Elliott blamed early-race pit strategy gone wrong for leaving him in a vulnerable position fairly deep in the pack at Talladega when chaos erupted on Lap 53.

“I felt like we had ourselves in a good spot before the pit cycle,” he said. “I didn’t feel like we executed the cycle very well. And that put us back in the back again. I’m not sure if that would have helped us miss the wreck or not.

“Obviously, all of that is very circumstantial. But nonetheless, it is what it is. I can’t change it now.”

Elliott is now ranked last among the eight remaining championship contenders after finishing 40th at Talladega and dropping two positions in the standings. After arriving at the high-speed Alabama track 23 points to the bad of the Championship 4 cutline, he leaves a whopping 62 points in arrears.

The 2020 series champ must capture next weekend’s elimination race at Martinsville Speedway to advance to the Championship 4. Even though Elliott has won at Martinsville, he’s been to Victory Lane just three times since the start of the 2023 season.

So, taking care of business at the NASCAR Cup Series’ shortest track seems like a tall order.

He’s not throwing in the towel, though.

“We’re just all eyes on Martinsville,” Elliott said. “And we’ll try to go there and get a win.”

Jared Turner Written by Sports EditorJared Turner
Jared Turner is a motorsports writer who has covered NASCAR for 20 years. He has interviewed over 20 NASCAR Hall of Famers and around 100 drivers, crew chiefs, and team owners, both past and present. He has also covered the sport for FOX Sports (where he was a two-time recipient of the FOX “X” Award for “Xtraordinary” job performance), NASCAR.com, Sporting News, NASCAR Pole Position Magazine, the SPEED network, and plenty of other online and print-only publications throughout his career. Notably, Jared has penned dozens of articles for NASCAR souvenir programs, including several featured prominently in Daytona 500 keepsakes. A Virginia Press Association award winner and former member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Jared has racked up accolades both for his writing and his academic work. He studied both Communication and Psychology at Virginia Tech, where he was permanently enshrined in Phi Beta Kappa — the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society. Jared excels at feature writing and opinion writing, much of which stems from his dedication to all levels of racing.
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