"I kind of had to teach myself": Chase Elliott opens up on his approach at Bowman Gray Stadium after heat win

Chase Elliott started off his 2025 campaign with a stellar qualifying run on Saturday for the Clash. Elliott registered the fastest lap, and then led every lap of Heat #1 to secure the best starting spot for Sunday's exhibition race at Bowman Gray Stadium.

This season, NASCAR is back at one of its oldest and most iconic venues, also nicknamed, 'The Madhouse.' For the last three years, the season-opening exhibition race had been held at the LA Coliseum, after which NASCAR decided to bring the event back to its roots.

However, as per Chase Elliott, racing at Bowman Gray wasn't all that different from racing in the Coliseum. Speaking on Saturday during a media availability, the Hendrick Motorsports driver revealed his approach for racing at the Winston-Salem short track.

"I kind of had to re-teach myself I guess or get familiar again today this afternoon and that was kind of how I approached the day and what I was expecting, and fortunately it was pretty similar to what I was thinking it was going to be based on the Coliseum and the differences visually what it looks like from that," Chase Elliott said.

He also touched upon how his past experience of racing at Bowman Gray more than a decade ago didn't come in handy. Elliott said it was because of the 'lots and lots' of laps he's put in his career since his last run at the track.

"That means we've been racing a lot," he added.

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Chase Elliott shares his take on the fans at Bowman Gray Stadium after Saturday's heat races

Speaking about his expectations about the main event on Sunday, Chase Elliott said that 'anything can happen' at The Madhouse. But the #9 driver also remarked that under normal circumstances where drivers aren't crashing into each other, he would want to be on the first two rows of the field.

As for the crowd, Elliott said that they were all fired up, which was 'great.' He described:

"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."

NASCAR's most popular driver remarked that they are racing at Bowman Gray for the experiences such as the one they had on Saturday. Elliott claimed that the crowd and the locals support the racetrack, and with the modified races they have over the year, they want 'a good show.'

The Hendrick driver added that he was looking forward to being a part of that for the fans.