How Chase Elliott Is Embraces Having Back to the Wall: 'I Feel Like it’s Kind of Fun'
Chase Elliott rarely shows any emotion and it’s that even keel, methodical approach to racing that has kept him grounded through a tumultuous season that has left him needing a victory if he expects to be a NASCAR Cup Series playoff participant.
“As bad as the year has been to a lot of people, I feel like it’s kind of fun,” Elliott says. “We’ve got 10 weeks left and you get into the show, or you don’t. The playoffs are kinda like that. You have to run well the next week, or you go home. So, it’s kind of that way now. For me, I kind of enjoy it. I’m kind of looking forward just to the challenge … seeing if we can figure it out. We’re in a tough spot, but I think it’s a great opportunity to go and have some fun and embrace the challenge. That’s really kind of where my head’s at.
“I certainly don’t want to go to Daytona (in August) and be in a position to have to win a speedway race to get in the playoffs. Odds are if you’re in that position, you’re probably not going to be much of a threat anyway. So, we want to be a threat each week from here on and I tend to do that.”
The 27-year-old Elliott has always been a realist and while some might lay awake at night worrying about when the much-needed victory will come, he doesn’t. He focuses only on what he can control.
“I think just being in that nice, sweet spot of pushing, but not pushing too far and pushing yourself and your team, but not pushing them too far,” Elliott said. “I think there is a balance there where I feel like we have done the best and we’ve had the best results. And I think that’s just where we need to stay. I don’t think we need … to do anything crazy. I don’t think we need to really change anything. We just need to fall in that rhythm and just do our thing.”
The first six months of Elliott’s abnormal season have been well chronicled. He broke his leg in a snowboarding accident after the season’s second race and missed the next six. He returned at Martinsville, Virginia, but before he and his Hendrick Motorsports team could regain their rhythm NASCAR suspended him for a race for turning Denny Hamlin head-on into the wall in the Coca-Cola 600. He realizes he has put crew chief Alan Gustafson in challenging situations this year as he has had to adjust to three different drivers during Elliott’s absence.
“He’s somebody that has enough experience to be able to plug someone into his system,” Elliott said about his veteran crew chief. “That was really all I did, when I came in, I was just plugged into the system that he had already created. Our approach has always been the same. Our prep has been the same. Obviously, we talk about different things, but just that week-to-week schedule is very similar.”
In nine races this season, Elliott’s best finish has been second at Fontana, California, which occurred a few days before he broke his leg. His other top-five finishes came at Darlington, South Carolina, and Sonoma, California. He described the road course race at Sonoma earlier this month as “just a good, solid weekend.”
“I just kind of felt like I plugged right back in to a good stride and a good cadence,” Elliott said. “That cadence and that stride that we executed the weekend at Sonoma can result in great results from here to Daytona (in August).”
