Chase Elliott’s Daytona 500 got off to a poor start
Chase Elliott was having a great race week by winning the pole for the Daytona 500. He was having a good start to the race until the back-end of his car spun out and headed for the infield.
Trouble! @chaseelliott slides through the infield. #DAYTONA500 https://t.co/4ORlpmT5nV
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 21, 2016
The zoomed in angle of the carnage after the incident shows exactly what damage occurred.
No #DAYTONA500 win today for @chaseelliott, but he has so many more chances to come. #NASCAR @TeamHendrick pic.twitter.com/lwNneRci2N
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 21, 2016
His car sliding off the track didn’t cause too much damage until he hit the grass in the infield. Not only did the grass get dug up, but Elliott’s car took major damage to the front of his car. It appeared that he was being checked out by medical personal. There was no serious injury as he has been released from the NASCAR medical center at the track.
His car was towed to the garage to get worked on, while everyone else was still on the lead lap with about 10% of the race completed. It’s a disappointing result for Elliott, but sometimes those are the breaks. In NASCAR skill and luck are both need, but it appears the having good luck goes a lot further than good skill does.
This is especially true in race like Sunday’s that sees drivers going three-wide and drive 200 laps in an effort to win the most famous NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race. Unfortunately, Elliott’s odds to start his 2016 season well have dropped hard with his disappointing crash on Sunday.