“It was really embarrassing”: Chase Elliott comments on watching last season’s COTA race from his couch  

Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott was "embarrassed" watching the chaotic NASCAR Cup Series race at COTA last season.

On the back of three straight successful campaigns, which included a Cup Series Championship victory in 2020 and two further Championship 4 appearances, Elliott looked poised to replicate his success in the 2023 season as well.

However, it wasn't to be, as shortly after his impressive second-place finish in California, Elliott found himself in an unfortunate snowboarding accident. The incident left him with a broken left tibia and sidelined him for six races, thus derailing his momentum. The 28-year-old missed races in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Atlanta, Circuit of the Americas, Richmond, and Bristol.

However, Elliott was in the TV booth as he watched the race that featured a total of eight cautions and three overtime restarts, something which left the former Cup champion feeling 'embarrassed'.

Now, ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix race at COTA this Sunday (March 24), the Hendrick Motorsports driver spoke to the media, reflecting on the chaos that ensued in the 2023 version of the race. He said:

"I hope it is different, just from my perspective, not being in the race (last year), I thought it was just really embarrassing, to be honest. I just remember, like just not wanting to watch. I was like, is this what we look like all the time?"

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Chase Elliott on Tyler Reddick winning the 2023 NASCAR Cup race at COTA

Chase Elliott also shared his thoughts on Tyler Reddick's victory in the 2023 COTA race, acknowledging Reddick's dominance.

The Dawsonville native said, via the aforementioned source:

"I was just glad that the best car won. You know, because Tyler (Reddick) could have easily gotten crashed or knocked out. He really deserved to win the race and he did a great job to protect what he could."

The 28-year-old driver attributed the chaotic nature of the race to the design of Turn 1 at COTA, describing it as "super-inviting to be silly."

"We’re all better than that, and it was just kind of disappointing from my seat to see it unfold that way. It’s just super-inviting to be silly", Chase Elliott added.

Chase Elliott will return to the Circuit of the Americas for Sunday's EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix race and will start from ninth position. So far, the No. 9 Chevrolet driver has 152 points to his name as he finds himself sixth in the Cup Series standings.