Chase Elliott Likes To ‘Dominate’ Races, But Says His Late Kansas Win Was Exciting
Chase Eillott won the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday in thrilling fashion with a door-banging last corner pass on Denny Hamlin, but he’d rather win races a different way.
“I think the most cool and awesome factor is to just dominate. That’s the best way to put a stamp on a win, in my opinion, just being a competitor,” Elliott, who also won Atlanta with a last lap pass, said during his post-race press conference.
“I do think there are days and moments like today that bring a definite level of excitement for everyone. Like I didn’t know what was going to happen going into turn three any more than anybody else did.”
Hamlin is the one who dominated the race by winning the first two stages, but had to drive from fifth to the front ofter the overtime restart. Elliott said he was so focused on holding his line that he’s not even sure about all that was happening around him.
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“I’m excited to go back and watch it, honestly. You live this stuff and you live these moments. Obviously I know what my vantage point was, and I remember the things that I was looking at when I was looking at them, but I don’t have the full picture. So I’m excited to go back and just see what it all looked like,” he said.
“Yeah, so I definitely think there’s a level of excitement to that one that I’m not sure I’ve experienced in the Cup series to this point. I’ve been on the opposing end of some excitement for sure.”
Elliott came into the race seventh in the playoffs standings looking for a strong result, but it went better than expected.
“I felt like this weekend was a success, whether we won today or not. I was really proud of how we were prepared, how we handled yesterday, put ourselves in a good position, got our pit crew a great pit stall on pit road, got to showcase their talents, how good they are. We weren’t the dominant car on the long run, but we had good short-run pace and kept ourselves in the fight,” he said.
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“Like I told you guys a thousand times, you put yourself in position, you’re going to get your turn. And fortunately for us, today was our turn.”