At 28, Chase Elliott should be entering the prime of his career. Instead, the Hendrick Motorsports driver is hoping to be the Comeback Kid of the NASCAR Cup Series.
It’s likely Elliott would prefer to erase the 2023 season, but it’s important for the son of NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott to remember the lessons that came with it.
When last season began, Elliott was considered a title contender. He won the NASCAR Cup Series title in 2020 and, with a fast No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro at Hendrick Motorsports, had been in the hunt the following two seasons.
He started last year with a disappointing 38th-place finish in the Daytona 500 but rebounded to finish second the follow week at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.
Then, on March 3, Elliott fractured the tibia in his left leg in a snowboarding crash.
“I called it like I saw it,” Elliott said later. “I knew when I got hurt that it was not good, and I knew that pretty quickly.”
He was out of the driver’s seat until the April 16 race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
Because of the number of races Elliott missed, Hendrick Motorsports petitioned for a “waiver” so the driver and team could be eligible for the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs if the team won a race and met the other requirements.
Elliott defended his desire to go snowboarding, despite the fact it is considered risky.
“I feel like you have to enjoy your life and go and do things that are — I don’t want to say a distraction, but like a nice escape from this every week,” Elliott said when he returned at Martinsville. “There is a lot that goes into the racing thing, and I think you have to have that way to escape and let your mind rest a little bit.
“Look, the accident could have happened tripping down stairs, on a jog or anything. Snowboarding is something that I’ve been doing for a long time. I’m comfortable doing it. I wasn’t out doing anything that was wild or crazy.
“I don’t have a cool story to tell … it was just that perfect storm that could happen at any point in time, honestly. It’s one of those things that I’ve used as a training tool over the years, as well. No different from riding bikes or any of the above,” Elliott explained.
“I don’t agree with that viewpoint of — well you shouldn’t have been doing this or you shouldn’t have been doing that. I feel like I make decisions with my career in mind first and I always have. This was no different.
“It was just the perfect storm and an unfortunate accident.”
After finishing 10th in his return to the NASCAR Cup Series at Martinsville, Elliott was competing in the Coca-Cola 600 when he was involved in a crash with Denny Hamlin.
Elliott retaliated by hooking Hamlin’s Toyota in the right rear, crashing both cars. The following day, NASCAR officials suspended Elliott for the next race.
As the season continued, Elliott was unable to win, and he failed to qualify for the 16-driver NASCAR Cup Series playoffs for the first time in his career.
On a positive note for the team, the replacement drivers gained enough points during Elliott’s recovery that the No. 9 car was eligible for the owners’ playoff. Elliott finished the season 17th in the drivers’ standings, while the No. 9 car was 10th in entrant points.
Elliott missed seven races — six because of a broken left leg sustained in the snowboarding accident and one because of suspension.
Despite that, he won the National Motorsports Press Ass’n Most Popular Driver Award for the sixth time.
“This award has always, in my eyes, been a reflection and extension of my family’s place in the sport and I recognize my spot in line and recognize what they’ve done,” Elliott said. “The reason that it’s special is because of the fans and how supportive they have been to my entire family, me included, our team, over the years. I’m grateful for that.
“I don’t take it lightly, ever. I know you said you weren’t stunned, but I still take it very seriously, and I’m grateful for what they do for us. They’ve been phenomenal. So, I appreciate that.”
Elliott’s father holds the record for the most award wins at 16. Dale Earnhardt Jr. received the award 15 times. The Most Popular Driver Award has been presented to either an Elliott or an Earnhardt for 33 consecutive years.
It’s time to flip the calendar to a new year and Elliott is determined to regain his championship form.
One change will come on the spotters’ stand as his cousin, Trey Poole, has been named the team’s full-time spotter. Poole was the spotter for the No. 9 team on the road courses and was the interim primary spotter in 2021.
Eddie D’Hondt previously served as the spotter for all eight seasons of Elliott’s Cup Series career. D’Hondt has moved to Stewart-Haas Racing where he’s working with the No. 4 team and rookie Josh Berry.
Elliott says his team was moving in a positive direction at the end of the 2023 season and the results were improving. Despite that optimism, he finished 16th in the Phoenix finale, his fourth straight finish of 15th or worse.
There were some positives, however, as two of Elliott’s three Hendrick Motorsports teammates earned their way into the Championship 4. Kyle Larson finished second in the title fight, while William Byron was third. Byron was also the winningest driver on the circuit with six victories.
Elliott believes his team can harness some of that success.
“They’re top-notch,” Elliott said of teammates Larson, Byron and Alex Bowman. “Just a really good group. I enjoy going to work with them each week. There’s not a lot of ego. They enjoy having fun, putting in the work and showing up prepared.
“Ultimately, as a teammate and a competitor, that’s all I can ask for. If we are all showing up and we are as best prepared as we can be and go and give it our best effort each week, that’s all I can ask for from my side,” Elliott continued.
“I try to give that back to them as well. I think we all know each other well enough at this point that when we show up, we are going to give it our best effort and give it our all. I don’t question that out of them, and they don’t question that out of me.”
He also has tremendous faith in his Alan Gustafson-led crew.
“I think we’ve been working in the right direction and I’ve been pushing in the right direction,” Elliott said. “We’ve been putting together some good races and we’ve been executing some good events, which is a good thing.
“I definitely feel like we improved throughout the year.”
If Elliott and the No. 9 team can stick to that plan, there’s no reason they won’t return to their championship-contending status.
“Winning would be great. Winning a championship would be great,” Elliott said. “We just want to have pace on a week-to-week basis and that is where my head has been for a long time. I want to show up and have a shot every week. I think we are very capable of doing that but you’ve got to be perfect.
“If you are not perfect, you have to be really close to it and just keep yourself in contention. That’s really where I am at with it. I want to have pace, be fast and be in the hunt more often.”