Last Sunday wasn’t what Chase Elliott or his fans hoped for. Chasing his first win of the season to make it into the playoffs, the HMS #9 Chevy hit a rough patch when it came to a standstill after running out of fuel. With his playoff chances now being the million-dollar question in NASCAR nation, veteran Dale Earnhardt Jr. shared his skepticism without healing any bars.

While Elliott’s day went south, his HMS teammate William Byron racked up his first-ever road course win in stellar fashion, outpacing the pole sitter, Denny Hamlin, and trumping the proclaimed road specialists.

Speaking on his popular podcast, Dale Jr. Download, the veteran shared his doubts, but the eerie calmness and silence in his voice could mean something distressing for Elliott fans.

Veteran Dale Earnhardt Jr. shares his doubts, mentioning the strangeness of the whole situation

Eyeing a decisive win on Sunday, HMS star Chase Elliott was locked and loaded for war. But fate had different plans for the 2020 Cup Series champion and Hendrick Motorsports‘ coveted road racer, as his day literally came to a sudden stop in the 55th lap of the race.

The #9 Chevy ran out of fuel at the most crucial time possible at the bus stop session of the track, giving the edge to Elliott’s teammate Byron, who capitalized on the opportunity. While enraged fans were busy bashing Elliott’s championship-winning crew chief, Alan Gustafson, veteran Dale Jr. shared his doubts on his podcast.

Unlike other race cars, Cup Series cars are equipped with a fuel switch instead of a fuel gauge. JR Motorsports co-owner then said, “I didn’t say anything on tv because I thought they would know better than I would, they built it, they built the thing so if they think it will go through 3 laps then they know it will go 3 laps but it didn’t.” 

“And so I dont know what the misinformation was, I dont know the, I dont know whether they had a problem with what they believe was possible when he said, hey when you hit the switch you got 3 laps that, that sounded odd to me because that’s a lot of laps at a long two and a half mile race track and that’s a lot of gas in a reservoir,” said Dale Jr. “That’s a lot of gas in that tank they are holding in that must be different than anything that’s ever been, it’s different, there’s a lot of fuel for it to run 3 laps and so it didn’t obviously and so maybe the system is similar to what we’ve always ran,” added the veteran indirectly mentioning the driver’s bleak future. 

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Dale Jr. dives into the technicalities of these Cup Series

Unlike road-going cars race cars have a lot of components unique and different, making them a whole lot more complex and complicated. While they may save some weight from certain components, there are far more technical and peculiar bits to these cars only a veteran expert like Dale Jr. can explain it to the unversed.

“So this kind of what the Cup guys have, they don’t have a gas gauge, they got a switch so they’ll run and it’ll start sputtering when your tank is empty you flip the switch now there’s this little small compartment at the bottom of the fuel cell that’s holding about a gallon of fuel,” said the veteran. 

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Furthermore, he got the point across in a simple manner, saying, “That’s now where you are drawing fuel from when you flip the switch you basically change the pickup line from the main pickup line it takes all the gas out of the tank to another individual pickup line in this very small reservoir that’s going to give you enough gas to get back to the pits, that’s all that’s for. And as long I remember using the switch it was good for a lap, it was absolutely going to get you back to pick road but nothing more.” 

With a crucial race ruined, Elliott crossed the finish in the bottom 30s at the 32nd spot, making his situation all the more dire. Now the 2020 Cup Series champion is in a must-win situation if he needs to get into the playoff 16.