“Not going to sit here and only pay attention to them”: Chase Elliott on what input he expects from HMS about points situation at Las Vegas

Chase Elliott let his feelings known about his aim at the upcoming race in Las Vegas, the South Point 400, and revealed that he would want to focus on his own business. Speaking to the media on Saturday, the Hendrick Motorsports driver stated that he would ignore rivals, but run his own race.

Elliott is currently under the cutline with -14 points to his name. He is in sixth place, 10 points behind Christopher Bell in the playoffs standings, along with Joe Gibbs Racing's Chase Briscoe. Joey Logano is at last with -24 points.

The #9 driver would need a win to see himself through to the next round. If not a win, he needs to manage some good finishes in the next three races to go up in the points standings.

The first of three playoff Round of 8 race starts at Las Vegas, and it will be followed by Talladega and Martinsville, before the ultimate Championship 4 race. However, for now, Chase Elliott has his eyes set on Las Vegas, and this was what he said about the upcoming race:

"I mean I don't especially this race, in the round, I don't, I don't need to know really much of any of that," Elliott said about the inputs from his team about his rivals. "I don't I don't feel like I think it's pretty easy to get a good grasp on where the you know where the eight guys where the other seven guys are are running. I'm not going to sit there and you know only pay attention to them. I have enough going on on my own. So for me it's just all about just trying to maximize the things that I can do, you know." "I just, you can worry about the situation too much. So, um I've always been a believer of of just trying to control the things within, our within our reach and, if we do the job that I think we're capable of doing, that stuff will, naturally sort itself out, you know, and um I don't think it's any different this year than it has been in years in the past," he further added.

Currently, Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin is leading the playoff standings with +8 points. Ryan Blaney is following him closely with +6 points. Hendrick Motorsports duo of Kyle Larson and William Byron are in third and fourth places, respectively, with +4 points each.

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Where does Chase Elliott start on Sunday's Las Vegas Motor Speedway race?

After a decent qualifying effort on Saturday, Chase Elliott managed himself a P4 start for Sunday's race. Driving the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, the Hendrick Motorsports star registered 29.259 on the timesheet.

Chase Elliott (9) during qualifying for the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway - Source: Imagn

Playoffs leader, Hamlin took the pole with 29.213 on the timesheet. He denied his teammate, Chase Briscoe, who had a 29.249 time to his name. Christopher Bell starts at P3.

Chase Elliott picked up two wins this season in 32 races so far, with 10 Top 5s, and 17 Top 10s. He led 424 laps in total, with an average start position of 16.469, and an average finish position of 11.969.

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Edited by Sabyasachi Biswas