CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Chase Elliott likes his team’s chances heading into Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
While Elliott and the Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 team hit a bit of rough patch during the early summer months, he feels like things are heading the right one entering the playoffs.
Elliott is the No. 7 seed in the 16-driver field after winning one race and posting seven top-five finishes through the first 26 races of the season.
“I think our odds are good. I don’t really take a look at a particular round being a problem any more than any other,” Elliott said during Wednesday’s media day. “I think that if we can just get the things that we need to do, going right, I think we can be good all the way through it. Obviously, Darlington was bad for sure. We ran way worse than we had hoped to run there.
“But when I look back at Pocono, Indy, and Michigan, I was really happy where we were headed. Some of those runs and some of the pace that we had, I thought it was some of the best of the year,” the 2020 Cup Series champion said. “So, I think if we can just get back to that, I think it’s great and I think that is all we have to do. I think it’s just having that type of pace and that type of competitiveness. If we are doing that, we are going to give ourselves opportunities to win and eventually they are going to go your way. So, it’s just about being there on a weekly basis. You do that, and you will get your chances.”
Elliott says every round is a challenge during the playoffs, including the opening round of 16 races at Atlanta, Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l and Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
“The first round definitely needs to be respected because it’s not a cakewalk by any means,” he said. “That is what you get when you have these short rounds and every year, we put another speedway in there and you are going to get craziness. You keep fabricating this stuff and that is what you are going to get.”
Elliott said he enjoys the 10-week playoff run and the intensity of the situation.
“You know, I can’t really say that in my time of doing it that I have really changed my process,” he said. “But I have certainly have a lot of fun in the last 10 weeks just because there is something on the line. I do enjoy that aspect of being a competitor and showing up each week because it could be a make-or-break weekend for you. I think that is fun, you know?”
The second-generation driver likes pressure situations.
“Well, just because you either do or you don’t. That is fun to me,” he said. “You go to a race and your back is against the wall and you have to perform. You either show up and get it done or if you didn’t, you get your report card that day and you didn’t do a good enough job. And I like that. I like that aspect of that there are intense moments over the course of that stuff. Am I a fan of all the aspects of it, maybe not necessarily, but I do enjoy the fun meter of being a competitor in the last 10 weeks that it brings me.”