NASCAR’s Favorite Driver, Chase Elliott Reveals the “Biggest Piece of the Puzzle” as He Makes a Grand Return to the Cup Series

It seems like all the talk surrounding the wrecks, the penalties, and all the controversies have finally died down. However, this only happened when NASCAR and Hendrick Motorsports gave fans something a lot more exciting to talk about.

After an unfortunate snowboarding accident ahead of the Las Vegas race last month, Chase Elliott is finally returning to the tracks!

After getting an all clear from the medics, the Hendrick Motorsports driver is looking to make a mark for himself in the upcoming race at Martinville this week.

Talking on the popular The Pat McAfee Show, the driver reveals his plans while sharing an insight into how things have become different with the introduction of Next-Gen race cars.

Chase Elliott reveals the spots to ‘manipulate’!

With Elliott returning to the track, the popular sportsperson and racing enthusiast Patrick McAfee was thoughtful enough to invite the #9 driver to his show. Speaking to the hosts, Elliott talked about his time on the sidelines while revealing the nuances of the sport that can be manipulated.

The 3-hour long podcast had several topics of discussions, and Chase making his return was the first segment of the show. Acknowledging the evolution of the sport owing to the Next-Gen racecars, the host certainly had interesting subjects to talk about. He asked, how things are different, and what are the new strategies that teams adopt to the ever-changing times?

To this, the 27-year-old driver responded, “It is its is and certainly, from a driving standpoint you can still find advantages driving and you just you’re trying to push that limit just a little further than the next guy uh but yeah, strategy plays a huge role in the races and when to pit when to put on tires all those things and it changes throughout an event too,”

The ace speedster also mentions the significance of aerodynamics and how teams are finding ways to improve their cars “every weekend”.

He added, “Uh but aerodynamic advantages over the years have become king, aero is something that’s talked about every weekend and how the bodies are built, how they’re manufactured, finding advantages on the body of the car to manipulate, the the way the air flows is uh is probably the biggest piece of the puzzle, I would say.”

READ MORE: Chase Elliott Names the Biggest Brainiac on the NASCAR Grid & It’s Neither Kevin Harvick Nor Kyle Busch

With their ace driver sidelined for six races, how did things pan out for Hendrick Motorsports?

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Well, at first the news of Elliott’s accident came as a shocked for many, including the team. But Hendrick Motorsports found just the guy to replace him. Josh Berry came in as a replacement for Chase.

To say the least, Berry performed pretty amazing, coming in a close second to his teammate Kyle Larson at Richmond Raceway after an intense race. Not just the fans, but he even earned praise from the Vice President and racing legend Jeff Gordon, all the while still actively competing in NASCAR Xfinity Series.

At the post-race presser for Richmond, Jeff shared his excitement saying, “I feel like he [Berry] has done a great job every time he has been in a car.”

“When you look at his lap times, he is a guy that he gets in there, he feels the car out, he doesn’t take too many risks or chances until he knows what he has. Then you just start to see the lap times come good and build and the run starts to come together.”

The NASCAR veteran even went on to predict, “I think he’s got a future in Cup Series.”

While his replacement did good in his absence, the returning Chase Elliott will be looking to get back on his own feet, maybe as soon as this Sunday at the Martinsville Speedway.

WATCH THIS STORY: “Points don’t matter now” – Chase Elliott acing his only championship option at Martinsville could wield a $100,000 boost to charity.