Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Chase Elliott Interview Following His Win at Kansas | VICTORY LAP

Episode Date: September 29, 2025

Fresh off his thrilling win at Kansas, Chase Elliott joins Kevin Harvick for this week’s Victory Lap on Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour. Elliott opens up about what the victory means for his team moving forward in the NASCAR Playoffs, how their strong qualifying run set the tone for the weekend, and the strategy that helped them close out the race. The two also discuss Elliott’s mindset throughout the season, why his team has been able to stay so consistent, and how he’s approaching the next big challenge at the Charlotte Roval. LINK TO SUBMIT PICKS FOR THE ROVAL: https://forms.gle/nFSHX1w6EZ22eg8k7 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whether we got out of there with a fourth or fifth or a win, I thought it was a great weekend for us. Anybody in that top eight can get hot for a couple weeks, and I think we're capable of doing that too. Well, Chase, congratulations, man. That was a wild last couple laps, and I know you guys have talked a lot about qualifying. You guys were in the game all weekend, started up in the front. But did you ever think that you had a chance right there at the end with starting 10th? winning. You know, my mindset was the two restarts before that had not gone very well. And we got quick caution. So I was giving up lanes to take the outside. And that's the

best, that's the risk, right? You know, you get a quick caution and you're going to lose the spots that you gave up to take the preferred lane. Unfortunately, that was exactly what happened. So, yeah, it was eighth and felt like I had to give up a row to get. to 10th. Just didn't feel good about being stuck on the bottom in that situation. I thought the only way for me to take advantage of our four tires was to be up top. So yeah, in my head, I was kind of thinking, man, if we can just get back to fourth or fifth or something, you know, that would be a really good restart to come from, come from 10th. And yeah, just got momentum rolling up top. Opportunities kept opening up. And yeah, next thing you know, I drove off into three and kind of saw those guys.

start to ship it in there and thought, man, I have a shot to maybe get three wide with them on exit. It was kind of my thinking just to have a slight chance. And, yeah, fortunately, it just kept getting better. So we'll take it. That's right. Well, you're on the bad side of it sometimes and on the good side of it and take it while you can. I think, you know, when I look at your season, you guys are, in my opinion, the most consistent car. You have the least amount of mistakes.

You have the least amount of failures. The speed has been, you know, here or there. But it seems like over the last several weeks, the speed has been really good. And maybe some of that is from just because we see it at the end of the race and you've talked about the qualifying piece of it. Where do you assess where you are right now? Because I feel like the speed's better.

You're qualified good. And I just feel like you guys make, you know, you're more of a traditional type racer and you get more out of the day than most. Is that where you think you are with everything, or how would you assess everything at this point? I think that's fair. You know, I've been very vocal and honest about our qualifying struggles. And I think that starts with me, truthfully.

And I said it, you know, after the race. But I was, if we had gotten out of there where we were going to finish, which was going to be about fourth, you know, if we didn't get that late caution, fourth or fifth, you know, somewhere inside the top five. I thought it was a great weekend for us, honestly, because, you know, I thought that was the first time and a long time. We showed up, had good pace off the truck. I felt really prepared from my perspective.

You know, our balance wasn't even the best, but we still had good pace in our car. We went out there and had a really good qualifying effort, got ourselves inside the top, you know, solidly inside the top 10, got a good pit pick. I think, you know, all those things, as you know, you just start stacking on top of each other. We have a great pit crew.

Those guys have not had an opportunity to showcase their talents because I'm, you know, qualifying last and putting them in positions where we're having to come around somebody and then somebody has to come around us, you know, and you're just setting them up for failure when you do that. So in getting that good qualifying effort, we got them at opening in. I had the car position where it needed to be and, you know, look what they did. They had a great day. Kept us in the game, allowed us to make adjustments and just keep chipping away at making our car. better and more competitive at the end of those long runs throughout the day,

kind of tried to play the race to our strengths. And we had good short run pace. Certainly had room for improvement. I'll be the first one to tell you that. We need to be better on the long haul. But I thought we closed the gap a lot throughout the course of the event to, you know, to Denny and Bell. And, you know, we were getting ourselves in the game. And, you know, like you said, we had it go our way there at the end.

But I was going to be proud of our day and our weekend, regardless, whether we got out there with a fourth or fifth or a win, I thought it was a really good weekend for us as a team and collectively, just as a group, executing a really good day. So you've got this mustache thing going on right here. I guess that's got to stay for the rest of the playoffs now. It seems like it's all going pretty good. Or is there some sort of plan?

or is it's just something to do right now? Yeah, mustache thing. That's probably a good thing to call it at this current point. But yeah, I don't know, man. I just felt like I needed to, I needed some magic somewhere. You know, so at some point in time, I had to make sure before the season was over, I was going to try everything I possibly could to try and turn things around. And if it meant this mustache thing coming back, that's what it was going to be.

So here it is. guess it has to stay a few more weeks. I'm not super thrilled about that. It's kind of annoying. But if it makes us go fast, I'll hold on as long as I have to. I like it. I wouldn't shave it off until things don't go your way. So maybe you can get the little curl or something going at the end of it here. As you look at, as you, yeah, whatever it takes at this point of the year, I think for sure. Obviously, you're in a good position for the roval this weekend. What makes that, what makes that place so much different and putting it in this particular weekend, A, how much stress does it take off of you guys? And B, just why is the roble, why does it seem to be just

always chaos and everything that goes on there? I don't really know why it's been like that, you know, for a lot of the trips that we've been. I know there early on, the racetrack had some nuances that were just different and probably a little uncomfortable inside the car the way the corners were. and still are. You just don't have a lot of outs. There's not a lot of, like most road courses, as you know, you go places and if you blow a corner, there might be a grassy area or something

where you can kind of get away and, you know, spin out or run off the road. There's really just not a lot of room to miss a corner and not hit something there. I think that's probably part of the reason. But I think as it pertains to us and why, you know, yesterday was such a big deal, is especially that race

and that racetrack, the way it's laid out and the way the race goes, having the ability to jump those stages is really huge. And, you know, for us, most of the time when we've gone to the Roval over the past number of years, we've been in a position where we're having to points race. And that puts you in a spot where you can't jump stages because you can't give up the potential points that you could get by running to the end of it. And in doing that, you're kind of letting the, you know, letting the wind slip away in most cases. There are circumstances where you could jump or you could run through the stages and still have a shot to win, but the odds are not in your favor.

So I'm excited to, you know, to get over there and just be able to go for an outright win on a road course and not worry about the stage points and, you know, not mess with that stuff. So we've had good pace there the last couple of years. thought we've had a legit chance of winning that race straight up on speed a couple times over the last two or three seasons. We'd love to get a next gen win on a road course. That's been something I want to accomplish at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later, and this weekend would be a good time for it. So as you look to the next round, obviously, you know, for you, it's really, that's the focus.

I know you want to get, you know, stage points or, you know, win the race this weekend to get some bonus points. where do you think the strength is for you going into those next three races as you go into the end of the round of eight? Well, I think it starts this weekend, truthfully. I mean, I would like to get five more points, you know, and that would be the first goal that I have in mind. You probably know me well enough to know I'm a week-to-week person. And, you know, my mindset right now is how can I position our team to get five more points this week? And that's going to do nothing but just help us when we get to, you know, get to Vegas.

So, you know, as it pertains to the next round, I feel like Vegas has been a little bit of a struggle for us, but we have had some high spots. I thought we had a really respectable run going there last fall. Another step in the right direction of improvement this past spring. And, you know, certainly I think with our performance at Kansas this weekend, I think some of that can translate to Vegas to Talladega. I mean, that deal is going to be about, you know, who doesn't crash. I think at the end of the day and if you can luck up and get a win at that deal, then fantastic.

But, you know, certainly going to have to, you know, do your very best there to be smart and keep yourself in a good spot. And I feel very confident we can go to Martinsville and have a shot to win. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to it, honestly. I mean, I think the big one's just Talladega and what's going to happen there and whether or not we can get through the mess.

And I feel like if we can do that, we have a real shot to make it to Phoenix. And, you know, like I said, after the race, it's just about the way this format is. And you think about 10 weeks and how long that, you know, just of a time frame that is, a lot can change, you know, you can hit on something or get better or it's all about just buying yourself and your team more time. Like the more time, I think we buy ourselves, the more opportunities you have and you just never know what can happen. And, you know, anybody in that top eight can get hot for a couple

weeks. And I think we're capable of doing that too. Well, you guys are doing a good job. You got yourself back to Victory Lane. I just, my only hope is that it just goes all the way to Phoenix and you don't have to shave that mustache because I want to see what it looks like. So good luck. And hopefully, oh, I do not. Don't you shave that thing off until it goes bad. No, I'm not going to get rid of it. But I'm a little nervous as to what it would look like at the end of another. month, but yeah, I'm willing to find out. So I'll, I'll take your advice on this one. We'll, we'll write it out. I like it. Well, good luck, man. Congratulations. And good luck this weekend at the Roval. Appreciate it.