Since returning to the cockpit of his No. 9 Chevrolet in early April, Chase Elliott has been flying under the radar.
Other than the one-race suspension he was dealt for intentionally hooking the right rear of Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota during the Coca-Cola 600 on May 29, the Hendrick Motorsports driver has stayed out of the headlines — both good and bad.
The one thing that hasn’t changed is Elliott’s must-win situation.
As NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver has missed seven races this season, his championship position is less-than-impressive. At 27th in the standings, Elliott is 84 points behind the cutoff line.
With 10 races to go in the regular season, the 27-year-old is running out of time.
But rather than stress about the ticking clock, Elliott’s recent track record has given him a much-needed boost of morale.
“There’s been some high spots. Kansas was a high spot. Fontana was a high spot. Sonoma was also very good. Three very different style of tracks, so that brings some positivity to my mind that it’s there,” Elliott said. “We just have to extract it here every week for the next 10.”
The first six months of the year have been anything but normal for Elliott and his No. 9 team, considering his leg injury, the astronomical penalties NASCAR dealt to Hendrick Motorsports earlier in the season and Elliott’s recent suspension.
Though the 2020 Cup Series champion doesn’t take fondly to the idea of missing the playoffs, he also doesn’t feel too much pressure to “do anything crazy.” At this point, he’s simply come to terms with his reality and is focused on what he can control.
“We’ve got 10 weeks left and you either get in the show or you don’t. The playoffs are kind of like that,” Elliott said.
Over the course of his eight-year Cup Series career, Elliott has made the playoffs every season. His worst finish has been 10th in points (2016, ’19).
While he may not be outwardly demonstrating any type of panic, he acknowledged his fifth-place finish at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway provided a nice reset for the team.
“I felt like I kind of just plugged right back into a good stride and a good cadence. I think that cadence and that stride that we executed with in Sonoma can result in great results from here to Daytona (Int’l Speedway),” Elliott said.
The remaining regular season has a few wildcards left — such as the upcoming Chicago street race on July 2 — but Elliott feels confident about securing a win at one of the tracks ahead, including this Sunday’s race at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway.
“Certainly don’t want to go to Daytona and be in the position to have to win a speedway race to get into the playoffs. Odds are if you’re in that position, you’re probably not going to be much of a threat anyway, in my opinion,” Elliott said. “We want to be a threat each week from here on, and I intend to do that.”