NASCAR star Chase Elliott reveals 'hardest loss' in racing career

Chase Elliott has revealed the one thing he would change about his early racing career before reaching NASCAR.

The Hendrick Motorsports star was just a teenager when he had his 2013 Snowball Derby race win taken off him after post-race inspection, an incident which he clearly still thinks about more than a decade on.

He was disqualified from that race after an illegal piece of tungsten was discovered in his car in inspection, which he claimed had been installed in the car by mistake after it was stored in the wrong part of his workshop.

Elliott had already won the historic race shortly after his 16th birthday two years prior, and would take a second victory in 2015 when his now-NASCAR rival Christopher Bell was disqualified, but the 2013 loss clearly sticks in the 2020 Cup Series champion's mind.

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Elliott reveals hardest loss

The 30-year-old was asked by The Athletic's Jeff Gluck what decision from his pre-NASCAR days he would make differently – and while he said he had a lot of fun in that era, he picked out the Snowball Derby disqualification to alter.

"For the most part, those early years were a lot of fun," he said. "Racing Late Models and the short track era from around 2009 to 2013-14 was really a lot of fun. When you look back, it was like, man, a lot of great lessons, I got to work with a lot of great people.

"Those years led to some opportunities down the line, so it’s hard to look back and say I’d change something. The hardest loss was having that Snowball Derby taken away (due to a 2013 disqualification) – that really sucked.

"I’d love to have that whole situation back; it could have very easily been avoided. Outside of that one, those were great years. And then really, the NASCAR thing started directly after that."

Elliott: Snowball Derby DSQ still hurts

The Snowball Derby incident came up again later in the interview when Elliott was asked to pick something he can laugh about now which he didn't find at all funny at the time, although he did admit that it still hurts him.

"Going back to the Snowball Derby thing – I say 'laugh' lightly," he said. "A little. It still hurts. The way that whole thing went down (with the wrong type of weight mistakenly placed into the car), I can find some humor in it now, how easily it could have been avoided.

"Looking back, it’s a good lesson in listening to your dad. Not so funny at the time, and I still wish I had that weekend back, but I can see the humor in how it all went down now."