LE MANS, France (AP) — Rick Hendrick fully supports Chase Elliott as he returns from a one-race suspension for deliberately wrecking Denny Hamlin, but the team owner believes on-track aggression has gotten out of control this season and NASCAR sent a message by parking the superstar.
“Until something was done, I think that kind of rough racing was going to continue,” Hendrick told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Elliott missed last week's race outside St. Louis as the five-time fan-voted most popular driver served a one-race suspension for retaliating against Hamlin in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The two had made contact several times, with Elliott hitting the wall before he deliberately turned left into Hamlin to wreck him.
Hamlin immediately called on NASCAR to suspend Elliott, which the sanctioning body did despite his star power and the effect his absence from races has on television ratings. Elliott missed six races earlier this season with a broken leg suffered in a snowboarding crash and NASCAR lost roughly 500,000 viewers during his absence.
Hendrick, at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with NASCAR's special Garage 56 project, told the AP he understood the suspension. NASCAR last year suspended Bubba Wallace one race for intentionally wrecking Kyle Larson, another Hendrick driver.
“Pushing and shoving, it's a fine line, and when someone puts you out of the race, you get roughed up, emotions take over and you react. I think maybe guys will run each other a little bit cleaner moving forward," Hendrick said. "We understand the suspension and nobody really likes to have to go through that, but you just do it and move on.”
Hendrick said he believes drivers have gotten far too aggressive with the second-year Next Gen car, which has not only tightened the field but is a durable vehicle that can withstand bumping and banging. Contact that used to end a driver's day now barely leaves a dent.
It's led to drivers being more forceful and, in Hendrick's opinion, too many incidents of drivers losing their cool.
“There's rubbing. But if you just harass people by running them up into the wall, every time you get to them, you get tired of it,” Hendrick said. "And that's what so many of them do to cause accidents, but then they don't get in the accident themselves.
“I think everybody understands the rules,” Hendrick continued. "But you’ve got an awful lot of tension and when you’re out their racing like that, and you are almost to the finish, and somebody just runs over you for no reason, I think the cars are so close and it’s so hard to pass, they get frustrated.”
Elliott, with seven missed races this season, is ranked 27th in the standings headed into Sunday's road course race in Sonoma, California. He's been granted two waivers by NASCAR to remain eligible for the playoffs, but the 2020 champion needs to either win a race or crack the top 16 in standings to make the field.
An outstanding road course racer with seven wins across several tracks, Elliott will be motivated to get his first win of the season Sunday at Sonoma, one of the few road courses on the schedule where he's winless.
Hendrick said when he spoke to Elliott he urged him to use caution moving forward.
“I just said ‘Hey, we’ve got to be careful with that,'” Hendrick said. "But I support him, I really do support him. You get roughed up and it ruins your day, you know, you let your emotions take over.”
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