Amid NASCAR & F1 Crossover at COTA, Hendrick Motorsports’ Latest Recruit Offers Optimistic Yet Cautious Take on Possibility of Securing a Cup Series Debut Victory

For the past few races, Chase Elliott has been out of action. This was after the 2020 Cup Series champion got involved in a snowboarding accident and broke his leg. Naturally, this became a massive headache for Hendrick Motorsports and they roped in Josh Berry as his replacement. However, Berry will not be competing for HMS at the Circuit of the Americas this weekend. Instead, four-time IMSA SportsCar Championship winner Jordan Taylor will be driving the #9 car.

Recently, Taylor spoke about the team’s expectations for the weekend. Taylor told HendrickMotorsports.com, “I think a top 10 would be a really big day. There’s so many elements that can take you out of contention. So many things that I am not used to with pit lane procedures, restart rules, and things like that. There’s a lot of things we are learning on the fly.

“Even if we have decent pace, there are so many other elements that we have to get right to be competitive and be in the mix at the front.”

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What to expect from Taylor and Hendrick Motorsports at COTA?

As compared to the last two tracks, this is a track where Chevrolet normally does well. As a matter of fact, Elliott won the first race at the venue, while Ross Chastain triumphed last year. Naturally, one would expect the Hendrick Motorsports contingent to perform well at the track. Kyle Larson is the 2021 Cup champion and is a strong contender, Alex Bowman is no slouch either, and William Byron has already scored two wins this season.

Of course, as the rookie of the bunch, one can hardly expect Jordan Taylor to challenge for the win. However, the #9 Chevy is a quick car, so a decent result could well be on the cards. Additionally, it would be interesting to see how Taylor stacks up against his fellow “rookies,” Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button.

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