After finishing P3 at the Chicago Street Circuit, it seemed Elliott’s lackluster 2023 season was finally headed in the right direction. However, returning to his home track in Atlanta for the Quaker State 400 Cup Series race, Chase Elliott once again struggled to make it into the top 10, ultimately finishing in P13. Things weren’t all bright and sunny for Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, #48 Alex Bowman, who finished 26th at Atlanta.

While HMS’ William Byron is currently leading in the championship standings, both Elliott and Bowman have constantly found themselves at the back of the pack. Having failed to deliver the desired results this season, five-time NBA All-Star Brad Daugherty has handed Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman an ultimatum.

Brad Daugherty called out Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman

The Quaker State 400 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway was rife with crashes and cautions. Starting from the 23rd position on the grid, Elliott failed to surge ahead of the swarm of drivers, missing out on the top 10 spots in both stages. Apart from the disappointing P13 finish, the race was mostly uneventful for Chase Elliott. The same could not be said about his teammate, Alex Bowman.

During Stage 2, Alex Bowman attempted to overtake Denny Hamlin on the inside line. Momentarily going three-wide, Bowman #48 lost rear traction, spinning into Hamlin’s #11 car, resulting in both drivers careening off into the infield. This left Bowman with a flat right front tire, forcing him to pit and drop down multiple spots.

Looking at this incident, JTG Daugherty Racing’s (technically allied to HMS) co-owner, Brad Daugherty, had a lot to say. Speaking on an episode of Motormouths on Motorsports on NBC, Brad said, “The pressure is on the guys over at Hendrick (Motorsports). You know, those Hendrick Chevrolets have not performed up to par outside of William Byron, in the likes of you know Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott. Both of those guys had disastrous weekends at Atlanta, and did not run very well, especially Chase.

“They are trying to get his, trying to point his way into the playoffs, so they’ve got to come to New Hampshire and have big weekends. Obviously, William Byron, he gets a win, another win puts himself right square in the bull’s eye for the championship hunt, maybe the odds on favorite”, Daugherty further added.

Giving an ultimatum to the HMS duo to get their act together, the five-time NBA All-Star said, “But those other two have not performed well at all, and it’s because of situations that involve extracurricular activities. So, there’s a lot of pressure on Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott to come to New Hampshire and perform.”

Lagging behind on the Cup Series leaderboards, both Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman have been plagued by injuries in the first half of the 2023 season.

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Elliott and Alex Bowman’s injury-riddled HMS’ 2023 season

After fracturing his T-3 vertebrate in a Sprint Car race in April, Alex Bowman was forced to sit out the three Cup Series races at Dover, Kansas, and Darlington. Having led the championship standings at the beginning of the season, the #48 HMS driver has since fallen to the 22nd spot, 265 points behind the championship leader.

Sitting out for six races after fracturing his tibia in a snowboarding accident, Chase Elliott had been lagging behind on the leaderboards since the beginning of the season. Elliott’s worries didn’t end there, as he further missed out on the 2023 Enjoy Illinois 300 Cup race owing to a one-race suspension for intentionally wrecking Denny Hamlin at Charlotte. Now occupying the 23rd spot on the championship leaderboards, the HMS #9 driver is 281 points behind teammate William Byron.

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