“He got out of line; he messed up”: NASCAR insider opposes Chase Elliott’s Miami penalty defense with a blunt reality check

NASCAR insider Jeff Gluck has countered Chase Elliott's penalty defense at the Homstead-Miami Speedway. The Hendrick Motorsports driver was caught up in pit road trouble toward the end of Stage 2 following which the officials awarded a rear-of-the-field restart penalty for the final stage.

Elliott was behind Team Penske's Austin Cindric entering the pitlane. However, the #9 Chevrolet driver didn't steer into the lane in a single-file formation, attracting a penalty from NASCAR. Elliott defended his move, expressing that the lack of space between his front and Cindric's rear forced him to move out of the line. He also iterated that he gave the position back to the Penske rival but to no avail.

Nonetheless, Gluck presented a contrary take. The insider watched the in-car footage and witnessed a lapse on Elliott's part. Gluck outlined that the HMS driver accelerated to close the gap before entering the pitlane; but because the drivers ahead of him began checking up, Elliott was left with little room to brake.

"Elliott gasses it up real quick to try to close that gap right before entering the pit road. As he's gassing up, everybody checks up in front of him and Austin Cindric is right in front of him, so he [Elliott] just kind of goes to left and gets about maybe half a car length up alongside him," Gluck said via Dirty Mo Media (47:51).

Gluck then said that Chase Elliott didn't really give the position back to Cindric, as he appeared to be alongside the Team Penske driver entering the pit road.

"As they enter pit road, he's not like behind Cindric fully, he's still alongside him a little bit. So to me, if you're NASCAR, I don't think you can say, 'No, he gave the spot back'...he got out of line, he gained too much ground and he messed up. Despite the convincing argument...when you look at the video, it doesn't look good," he added.

Elliott was the worst-finishing HMS driver in Miami, placing 18th in his #9 Chevrolet.

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Chase Elliott claps back at NASCAR over Miami penalty

Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 UniFirst Chevrolet, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway - Source: Getty

Chase Elliott's performance has been subpar compared to his teammates William Byron, Kyle Larson, and Alex Bowman. While Byron and Larson have one triumph each from the season, Bowman scored his first runner-up finish and fourth consecutive top 10 in Miami.

However, Elliott has yet to claim a podium finish, let alone a race win. After raking a win through his supreme display in the preseason Clash, Elliott has struggled to keep up with his teammates, despite the same package for all HMS NextGen machines.

Chase Elliott could've turned the odds in Miami but the pit road incident shattered his prospects of catching up with his teammates. The ruling for 'reasonable move' didn't sit well with the 2020 Cup Series champion, so he voiced his concern through the team radio.

“Just have them look at it, because I gave the spot back. They all checked up, I moved left to not run in the back of someone and then I gave him the spot back before I even turned down. Just have them look at it. That's a very reasonable thing," Elliott said [via Jeff Gluck on X].

While William Byron, Kyle Larson, and Alex Bowman have swept the top 3 spots in the Cup Series standings, Chase Elliott is ranked a few spots down in sixth.