Chase Elliott admitted he had not thought quite a bit about it.
However a few of his friends have.
And when requested by reporters at final weekend, Elliott offered an informal response, becoming a member of the group commenting on NASCAR’s Cup Sequence driver approval course of, which has slid beneath the microscope early within the 2025 season.
The controversy started earlier than the . IndyCar legend was authorized for that race. Longtime Cup Sequence driver was not.
Then, it exploded when , one other sports-car and IndyCar veteran, gained entry into the at Phoenix Raceway on March 9. Legge spun twice within the race. The second got here whereas she was a lap down. She drifted too far up the observe, bumping Josh Berry and whirling proper into Daniel Suarez, who was in sixth place.
Suarez has since fronted the cost towards the approval course of, evoking the phrases of others like Elliott.
“That is the head of NASCAR, proper?” mentioned Elliott, the game’s hottest driver. “That is presupposed to be the very high tier of what NASCAR has to supply inside their sport and inside this self-discipline. I do suppose we want to ensure everybody is able to go.”
“I’m not saying (Legge’s) state of affairs was or wasn’t. I welcome new drivers. This isn’t me saying I don’t welcome this stuff or something like that. I do, completely. However yeah, we actually simply need to make sure that all people is equipped and prepared for a race on Sunday, the identical means myself and everybody else needed to go run the ARCA race at Daytona proper earlier than we ran our first Truck or Xfinity race. Let’s simply make sure that we’re doing our due diligence there.”
NASCAR gave Legge the OK on street programs and ovals of now not than one mile. She did possess six races of NASCAR expertise earlier than her Cup debut.
In January, she competed within the . In 2018, she made 4 Xfinity begins and added one other in 2023.
She known as Suarez after the crash final week, and the 2 mentioned the incident.
“She acquired set for failure,” Suarez mentioned. “It does not matter if you happen to’re an incredible driver or a nasty driver. In case you are thrown in probably the most troublesome collection on this planet to be aggressive, it’s simply not truthful.
“That’s the best way I noticed it. I used to be extra upset in NASCAR than her. And I discussed that to her, and I hope that she will get one other alternative … It’s nothing flawed along with her, simply the method. The method must be so a lot better.”
Different drivers echoed that sentiment. The method wants work. It isn’t about one or two or three drivers, they mentioned.
Castroneves had no prior NASCAR expertise. He entered the ARCA race at Daytona the day earlier than the Daytona 500, although. A Stage 2 wreck ended his stint within the Nice American Race.
NASCAR rejected Wallace’s 500 bid as a result of he had not pushed on any intermediate or bigger tracks since 2015. The 65-year-old has 197 Cup Sequence begins beneath his belt.
However NASCAR did approve Casey Mears, a 47-year-old with 489 Cup Sequence begins, for a race at Martinsville on March 30. Mears has not climbed into the driving force’s seat of a inventory automobile since 2019.
Presently, former driver Chad Little spearheads a committee that helps make choices to approve or deny drivers.
“I feel it is damaged,” Kyle Busch mentioned. “I feel there’s a whole lot of work that could possibly be carried out to make it higher. I additionally do really feel as if it should not be suit-and-ties making the selections all the time … I do really feel like there must be firesuits concerned in a few of these decision-making processes.”
