Chase Elliott extended an apology to Chase Briscoe following a late-race crash that took them both out of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway.
With 27 circuits remaining in the Enjoy Illinois 300, Elliott suffered a brake failure as he sailed off into turn 1 underneath Briscoe. The failure caused Elliott’s No. 9 to collide with Briscoe’s No. 19 as the two slammed into the outside retaining wall.
The late-race crash was detrimental for both drivers in the Chase standings. Briscoe slipped from fifth place in the points standings to eighth, while Elliott skidded from eighth to 11th.
Elliott apologized to Briscoe outside the infield care center
As the two drivers stood outside the infield care center and were about to answer media questions, Elliott can be heard apologizing to Briscoe in a social media video by NASCAR reporter Matt Weaver.
“Sorry,” Elliott said.
Briscoe can then be heard assuring Elliott he was not in the wrong for the accident.
“Not your fault,” he said.
Elliott then told Briscoe the incident was out of his control.
“I had nowhere to go,” he said.
Both drivers suffered DNFs due to the crash, with Elliott scoring a 31st-place result and Briscoe taking a 32nd-place finish. It was a difficult day for Briscoe, who said he felt like he used up eight of his nine lives until the crash that ended his race.
“Just had a lot of different things and just weird stuff and obviously restarts and getting crashed and everything else. Finally ran out of lives there at the end. … Just unfortunate. Wrong place, wrong time and you have that in racing sometimes,” Briscoe said.
Elliott was not the only driver who suffered a brake failure in Sunday’s race. As he told reporters following the crash, it is far from the first time brakes have plagued the Cup Series field at World Wide Technology Raceway.
“We’ve been blowing brake rotors since we’ve been coming here in this particular vehicle. Obviously, we’re in a box where you can’t do a whole lot about it and long straightaways with heavy braking on both ends of the track. It just puts you in a really tight box as it pertains to temperatures and making the brakes live,” Elliott said.
Elliott, Briscoe suffer championship setbacks after Gateway disaster
Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 was the second of 10 races in the Chase for the NASCAR Cup Series. For both drivers named Chase, Gateway was a major blow to their championship hopes.
While Briscoe fell to eighth in the standings, he is still within one race, points wise, as he sits 59 points behind leader Denny Hamlin. Briscoe has proven speed in recent weeks with three top fives and five top 10s in the last seven races.
Despite the setback, it would not be surprising if the Joe Gibbs Racing driver can climb back into contention.
Elliott, meanwhile, continues to struggle in finding positive results. While the Hendrick Motorsports driver had two wins early in the season, he only has one top-five finish in the last 17 races.
Sitting 93 points behind the championship lead, Elliott will need to see a major turnaround in performance if he hopes of winning his second Cup Series championship.
Chase Elliott Apologizes to Chase Briscoe After Gateway Disaster