Chase Elliott crashes in practice at Las Vegas (Video)

Multiple NASCAR drivers had tire issues at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

This weekend, NASCAR is racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The 1.5-mile track is hosting the opening race in the Round of 8 for the NASCAR Playoffs.

Early in practice, Kyle Larson pulled to the pit lane with an issue. Something didn’t feel right for the No. 5 car.

Larson stated on the radio, “Um, I may have a tire going down. I don’t know. I picked up like a right rear vibration I feel like.”

Seconds later, his teammate, Chase Elliott found the outside wall. The No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports machine blew a right rear tire.

Elliott backed it into the fence. The car then snapped around and picked up front end damage as well.

Elliott only had 15 laps of his tires.

The No. 5 team took off the right rear in search of an issue. There was a huge blister on the inside edge of the right rear.

Elliott was unable to take part in qualifying.

“I just cut a right rear tire. I’m not sure why,” Chase Elliott told NBC Sports after exiting the care center.

“I’d run 15 or so laps. Maybe I ran too long. I knew it was a tire for sure.”

“I couldn’t get stopped enough to keep it out of the wall. Definitely a bummer but it’s kinda been that way all year.”

“I didn’t feel like we were running more throttle than we have here in the past. And it wasn’t like I had run 30 laps or a fuel run.”

“I missed the race here in the Spring. But, something similar happened last year. I was behind Kyle when he cut a tire early in a run like that.”

“Like I said, Maybe I shouldn’t have run so long. But, I liked how my car was driving and I wanted to see where it was going.”

On the other side, Larson was able to save his Saturday.

“That wasn’t something normal that I’ve ever felt. So, I just decided to come in,” Kyle Larson said.

“Thankfully we did. Unfortunately, Chase had his tire blow on the next lap. Definitely got lucky. Glad we don’t have to go to a backup car.”

Hendrick Motorsports elected to make changes to their other cars after Elliott’s incident.

“You can feel the tires vibrating a little. But, you never know when they’re going to blow,” Byron stated.

“Our team was able to adjust. Hate it for our teammates, we were really fast.”

Daniel Suarez also blew a tire during practice.