Despite His Exit, Chase Elliott Stays Integral to Rick Hendricks in the Playoffs

Although not the most sought-after, there is another championship that NASCAR awards besides the driver’s championship in all three of its series. It is the owner?s championship, which falls to the hands of the team that finishes the highest of the four finalists in Championship 4. Thanks to that, Chase Elliott is not entirely off Rick Hendrick’s bucket list.

Although fans do not care about the owner’s championship, the number 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will be running throughout the next ten weeks, and perhaps Elliott will try to get Mr. H his 300th win. In a recent DBC podcast, Kaulig Racing’s president explained why the owner’s championship is important.

Chase Elliott is both in and out of the playoffs

Chase?Elliott’s journey into the 2023 playoffs has come to an end after he failed to secure any wins this year, but his boss will keep him running in the playoffs. But this time with a different goal. The goal of winning the owner’s championship Although it depends mostly on the collective efforts of Eliott and his teammates Kyle Larson and William Byron, Rick Hendrick is optimistic about his reward.

Veteran NASCAR spotter Brett Griffin cares the least about the owner’s championship. After congratulating Bubba Wallace on making it to his first-ever playoff battle, he threw a question at Chris Rice, who was sitting next to him.

“Realistically, why does the owner’s championship matter so much to you guys? Brett asked. Chris Rice gave a short, 3-word answer to Brett’s question.

“Well, it pays.”

He explained that even if Chase met with an accident while snowboarding, Rick Hendrick’s number 9 car still ran the race with a substitute driver. The owner has to get his money back, and for that, he has to race for the owner’s championship.

Watch this story: Hendrick Motorsports Driver Blamed Teammate Chase Elliott for Meeting Delay as Kyle Larson & Co. Wait

Talking about Rick’s driver, Rice said, “He’s going to do a great job. I mean, we need Chase Elliott in the playoffs, we really do.”

While Chris Rice explained the importance of owner’s championships, fans were bored with the number 9 team’s enthusiasm

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It is very valuable for our owners to be able to race for something. Chris Rice admitted that not every team owner in the future will hail from the driver’s seat. Team owners like Matt Kaulig, Jack Roush, and even Dale Earnhardt Jr. are rare. Why is that? One might ask.

Chris answered the question with another pertinent question: “I don’t mean this in a bad way, but how many drivers are going to get out and start to own a race team other than Denny Hamlin?”

According to the official page of Hendrick Motorsports, Chase Elliott said, “Proud to get the car into the owner championship, it?s a big deal to get in on the owner side, so hopefully we?ll try and go make some noise on that front. Just keep progressing and pushing to be better for next year. We?ll be better through all of this down the road.”

However when the number 9 team tweeted, “Taking a deeper dive into what’s to come for the
@Hendrick9Team”, fans did not hold back on expressing their indifference to Rick Hendrick’s upcoming target.

“Not the playoffs,” said someone while referring to what is to come for the number 9 team.

A fan denoted their disappointment by using emojis and said, “Whoopie yay great?”

Read more: Chase Elliott Falling Far Behind His Hendrick Motorsports Teammate Could Make Things Uncomfortable

Another blatantly stated, “That’s where most of the money comes from so that’s good”

However, a staunch HMS supporter left their never-ending support for the team saying, “I don’t understand why everyone is losing their mind about Chase and Alex. I will continue to cheer for the entire HMS organization as I always do. Nobody got their pants in a knot when MTJ didn’t make it last year. HMS FAN FOR LIFE!! ????”