“Thinking You Are Behind”—Kyle Petty Unravels Chase Elliott’s Bitter Dilemma Amid His Rollercoaster Season

There is no wonder that the 2023 Cup Series season has not been the best season for the Hendrick Motorsports ace Chase Elliott. Although he had put his best foot forward at the beginning of the season, things started going south after he suffered from a broken tibia due to a snowboarding accident. He had to miss out on six races due to his rehabilitation. 

However, the golden boy of NASCAR did not have it easy upon returning, as he failed to deliver positive results, apart from Darlington, where he finished third. And to add more woes to his already wounded self-motivation, he was slapped with a one-race suspension after it was deemed that he intentionally wrecked Denny Hamlin during the Coca-Cola 600.

With, all the tumultuous occurrences, it is surely hard for Elliott to find back his grip back in the race. This has not only been a concern for Chase Elliott himself but also for veterans like Kyle Petty, which he addresses in the latest episode of NASCAR on NBS.

Chase Elliott’s choppy year becomes a reason for concern for veteran driver Kyle Petty

The results at Sonoma Raceway came as a breather for the 2020 Cup Series champion, as he finished fifth in the race, after losing his lead position to race winner Martin Truex Jr. Moreover, Elliott is yet to seal his fate for the playoffs, as he has failed to secure any wins so far into the season, thanks to all the injuries and suspension.

But the concern that Kyle Petty and his co-host Nate Ryan raise in their podcast is a genuine one. Nate Ryan asked Petty, “I wonder if it comes as a bad time for Chase Elliott because he talked about this in his video, after the Gateway.”

Ryan also added, “He said that it’s been such a choppy year. He talked about how he doesn’t really have the rhythm. Is it more difficult for Chase for suddenly like, not only did he miss the six races for injury but now he got this weird stop-start, does that offer another layer to it?”

To this, the veteran answered, “Yes, it does. Are you in playing shape because that’s a different type of shape, understanding the ebb and flow of what a season is, the ebb and flow of how one game rolls into another game, how one race rolls into another race.”

To reinforce his facts, Petty drew the analogy of riding a roller-coaster. He added “How momentum builds or how momentum stops and you have gotta kick it off and go again and riding that roller coaster through a year is part of a cycle of what a season is. And when you miss races you always walk into the garage area thinking you are behind, always that guys got into more races this year than I have.”

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Kyle Petty draws his own instances to show the difficult road that lies ahead for Chase Elliott

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There is no denying the fact that Chase Elliott did miss out on a substantial amount of time in the ongoing season with all the mayhem that has distracted his focus from racing. And the way Kyle Petty puts it captures the true essence of Chase Elliott’s current state, “I am playing catch-up this year, so it’s a middle thing.” Elliott still has a lot to prove this season and he still has hands-on, in the game but is only left with 10 more races to do so, before the Playoffs approach. 

The road that lies ahead of the #9 Chevrolet driver is not an easy one. Petty considered the fact, “It’s a steep incline that he has to overcome, because he has to gotta get into a rhythm and run the race and make something happen in 10 races, where everyone else has looked at 26 races.”

To reiterate and reinforce his stance, Kyle Petty drew the example of his own life of how he had been an outcast in the world of racing while he was doing TV. He considered himself to be an oddity, even in the world where he had grown up and it was surely a tough time once he returned once again, after moving away from racing. And surely Chase Elliott, who had grown up around racing surely wouldn’t want that to happen to himself.

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