SPEEDWAY, Ind. – For the past two days, Chase Elliott has taken part in a Goodyear tire test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
It’s been a learning experience, he said, but sometimes it’s hard to pinpoint exactly how different the conditions will be when the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series visits the track in July for the Brickyard 400.
“It’s hard to fine-tune today just because when you come back here in July it’s going to be so hot and hopefully the sun’s on the racetrack then,” he said. “If that’s the case, this place is very temperature-sensitive, so it makes a big change.”
The rookie explained that that the racetrack seems to be more affected by how hot or cold it gets than what aerodynamics package the teams bring to it.
“It’s hard to say until you come back and have a bunch of cars on the racetrack at the same time,” he noted. “It’s such a big racetrack, a little bit goes a long way.”
Regardless of what pieces of information the No. 24 team can utilize for the summer race, the rookie said the testing has proven beneficial.
“We’ve had two great days to work on some concepts that we feel like we’ve been wanting to try and things that (No. 24 team crew chief) Alan (Gustafson) has had on his note list to really try to run through and get an idea of how to get better moving forward,” he said.
In addition, he pointed out that trips like this week’s test can help the team’s camaraderie regardless of what is learned on the track.
“I think even to this point we’re still learning and getting to know each other on a week-to-week basis, but it’s definitely come a long way,” Elliott said. “Having days like today that are kind of laid back with your team guys and with your group I think are good for just the overall feel and those relationships you establish throughout your race team.”
Through his first nine starts of the 2016 campaign, Elliott has notched five top-10 finishes – which places him second behind Jimmie Johnson’s six top-10 finishes in his debut campaign for the most top-10s through the first nine races of a rookie season.
He has also earned two top-five finishes, earned one pole position and led five laps. But the driver who leads the 2016 Rookie of the Year contender standings by 22 points heading into this weekend’s Talladega Superspeedway race said he still has plenty to learn.
“We’ve had our ups and downs,” Elliott said. “We’ve had such fast race cars from Daytona forward, really, and my guys have been doing such a great job of giving me a chance and bringing the kind of car that we need to the racetrack each week. I couldn’t ask for anything more there, so we’re learning together.
“I still have a long ways to go, but we’re trying to chip away.”