Clash pole-sitter Chase Elliott knows the race will get “rough”

Chase Elliott  was the fastest man in qualifying on Saturday going into The Clash, NASCAR’s pre-season exhibition race. Getting into the main race Sunday relies on a different format than the usual Cup Series race weekend, but Elliott used a tried-and-true method: he ran the fastest qualifying lap, then lead every lap in Heat #1 to secure the best starting position in the field. As it turns out, the pole-sitter for each of the four heat races went on to win their 25-lap sprint. At Bowman Gray Stadium’s cramped quarter-mile oval, field position will be the key for the 200-lap feature event on Sunday.

As Saturday’s heat races show, drivers in the pack struggled to make up ground without putting their front bumpers to use; outside passes only worked on restarts or when the inside got stacked up. Elliott knows that’s a sign of things to come, saying, “it’s going to be tough to win from the third or fourth row. I think the first couple of rows certainly have a massive advantage on the rest of the field.”

Tight racing during heat #1 on Saturday

Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images

But there’s one difference between Saturday’s heats and Sunday’s main event: traffic. The heats ran no more than 10 cars, while the main event will see 23 cars running 14-second laps on the single-groove Bowman Gray Stadium oval. That means the lead cars won’t get the privilege of clean air all the time.  There’s nowhere safe at the Madhouse.

“Obviously, anything can happen,” said Elliott. “But, I think just in a normal circumstance of people not totally crashing each other or whatever… yeah, I certainly would want to be on the first couple of rows. And, fortunately, we are.”

Though NASCAR hasn’t run a proper Cup Series race at Bowman Gray in 54 years, Elliott is one of a handful of drivers in this field who have actually raced a stock car on the track — but that was nearly 13 years ago in a K&N car. The Hendrick Motorsports driver admitted that he had to “re-teach myself” during the practice session.

While he avoided the mayhem of the heat races, Elliott could tell the Madhouse mystique had affected his heat  by the reaction of the fans in Saturday’s packed grandstands. Noah Gragson, Justin Haley, and Kyle Busch spent the heat in an all-out slugfest over the final transfer spot, causing back-to-back cautions and pushing each other all over (and off) the track. At one point, NASCAR officials intervened as Busch repeatedly hit Justin Haley under caution.

Kyle Busch in the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet gets by as Noah Gragson in the No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford spins into the infield

Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images

“Everybody was fired up, which is great,” said Elliott. “That’s what they want. It looked like our heat race got kind of rough at points sometimes, and the crowd reaction reflected that. I couldn’t see it, but I had a pretty good idea that something had happened that was fairly aggressive.

“But that’s why we’re here. This is what it was meant to be, and I think the crowd and the people that support this race track, and the modified events here over the years, this is what they want. I think they’re in for a good show, so I’m looking forward to being a part of it.”

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