HMS Legend Refuses to Throw “Rusty” Chase Elliott “Under the Bus” & Makes Huge Turnaround Prediction on Home Turf

NASCAR’s golden boy and Hendrick Motorsports ace speedster, Chase Elliott had a rocky start to his 2024 campaign. Hoping for a stellar comeback, the #9 driver entered the 200-lap marathon at Daytona but went home with a mid-pack 14th-place finish. While the driver swerved in and played his cards pretty well, avoiding the ‘Big One’ last week, the community’s expectations were never fulfilled. Now as the action heads to Atlanta, can the 2020 Cup Series champion redeem himself with a home turf win?

Legendary HMS spotter, Steve Letarte thinks he can. Announcing his tier 1 predictions for Ambetter Health 400, the former crew chief placed the 28-year-old right there with reigning champion, Ryan Blaney, briefly mentioning how Elliott can rewrite the story and redeem himself from the Daytona 500 disappointment.

A home track win will get the wind back in the #9’s sails, says Steve Letarte as he places Chase Elliott in the top tier

Speaking on the Dirty Mo Dough podcast, former HMS crew chief and popular NASCAR analyst, Steve Letarte mentioned a possible way that Elliott can redeem himself for his Daytona 500 performance and that is to win on his home track this Sunday. He said, ” (Chase) Elliott you know the only story better than or probably wouldn’t be better than but the only story that would compare to him winning the Daytona 500 would be winning in the home state of Georgia, coming off the winless streak so there’s still great sirene.” 

For a brief moment, when Chase Elliott won the first stage of the Daytona 500, the crowd in the packed stands were on their toes, awaiting the return of their popular hero as the #9 NAPA HMS Chevy looked like it finally had the momentum. However, in the next 135 laps of the 200-lap race, Elliott made major errors that took away his initial pace and the driver finished outside the top 10 at 14th.

But as we approach another race week, Elliott is on home track, Atlanta, Georgia, a place where he has one of the best average finish rates in the current grid, 13.0.

The veteran pundit went on to laud the driver for his supreme mindset and his relentless pursuit to be the best, dismissing his past mistakes and backing him on his comeback story. 

“Well, he is family you are not going to roll him under the bus one thing I’ll give about Chase, some people hate it, I actually appreciate, is he doesn’t hold anyone on the team to a higher level of performance more than himself as he holds, he looks in the mirror and says I need to do better, I could work for a guy that acts like that,” said the Letarte praising the driver, still being a believer of him. 

“Curious” Chase Elliott dissects the technicalities of racing at aging Atlanta

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As a Georgia native, Atlanta Motor Speedway has always been a special place for Chase Elliott. In his one-on-one with NASCAR’s Alex Weaver, the driver detailed his genuine emotions about winning at his home track. Rolling into Cup Series‘ second points race, Elliott is definitely one of the favorites, not just because of the home track advantage but because he has one of the best finishing averages on the track.

However, in his last 10 races, he has won only once. Speaking on the NASCAR exclusive, the driver detailed the nuances of the one-and-a-half-mile. Explaining the aging track’s dual nature, he said, “I think as long as it’s cold, the track is going to continue to race like a Speedway and it’s going to look a lot like a Daytona race.”

“But when it gets hot, I can see that changing the song and eventually the track’s going to age and look at little rule tweaks here and there. At some point we’re probably going to have to lift and it’s not going to be just so comfortable before we can run wide open all the time. So I’m curious to see when that transition happens, but for now and certainly for the spring race,” added the driver, reflecting on the track’s technicalities.

READ MORE: Disappointed at Daytona, Ryan Blaney Could Spoil Chase Elliott’s Atlanta Homecoming

Can Elliott make it twice to the victory lane in Atlanta and redeem himself?