Jeff Gordon Discloses Chase Elliott & Alex Bowman’s Ulterior Objective Bigger Than “Just to Be in the Playoffs”

With the playoffs approaching, storylines have started to form. One of the more standout situations is the one at Hendrick Motorsports. NASCAR’s winningest team always looks to deliver their best and ensure a smooth passage for their drivers to the playoffs as soon as possible. While William Byron and Kyle Larson find themselves in comfortable spots sharing six wins between them, Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman find themselves in a spot of bother.

Former Cup Series champion with Hendrick Motorsports and vice chairman of the team Jeff Gordon has some ideas about the preparations for the playoff. Speaking on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, he explains the actual expectations that are there for the HMS duo.

“Those Guys Want to Be Winning”: Jeff Gordon on Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman Qualifying for Playoffs

Gordon is a 4-time Cup Series Champion. The enigmatic #24, which now finds itself in William Byron‘s safe hands, has seen a great amount of playoff battles itself. The situation of Elliott and Bowman is still very much in their hands. Gordon understands that as a driver, the duo wants to qualify for the playoffs with a statement and on a dominant note. The best way to do that? Win a race in the last seven races left.

“Well being in the playoffs is important for every team and we know what challenges they’ve had to get themselves behind,” said the former NBC analyst.

“They’ve fighting hard to try to get back into it and get themselves in the playoffs but at the same time, you want to do it by winning. You want to do it in a way where when you make it into playoffs and you’re gonna go deep in the playoffs. And I think those guys are pretty capable of doing that. They just haven’t had things going their way.”

Ever since his return from suspension, Elliott has been consistently churning points for the #9 team. Acknowledging the same, Gordon claims that there is more than just qualifying for the playoffs in the sights.

“I think the points last couple of weeks have been pretty solid. If they continue to do that, yes they’ll go into…. possibly make their way into it. I know those guys want to be winning, and they want to be in there not just to be in the playoffs, but to be a championship threat, and I think right now, they’ve got some work to do to be on it.”

Rightly said, there is a good deal of work to be put into their qualification with such less time.

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Chase Elliott’s current situation is one of the twists of the season. Missing out on six races with a tibia injury early on in the season, the window to recovering those points has been tough. Currently, he sits behind Bowman in 23rd. Bowman himself has been cursed with injuries this season similar to Elliott. Apart from that, his constant involvement in wrecks this season has been an obstacle.

Both the drivers also had a playoff waiver warranted for them, which makes them eligible for playoff qualification despite missing out on one or more races. The race for playoffs has intensified even more after the results at Atlanta. Daniel Suarez’s second-place finish takes him to 15th while Michael McDowell’s strong fourth-place finish raises him to 16th, the cutoff mark.

But despite the ongoing conundrum over qualification, Gordon also denied special treatment for any one of the two.

Showing confidence over the ability of his drivers, he said, “I think we know what our race teams and our drivers and our crew chiefs are capable of when things fall in place. So I’ve got complete faith that they can do it in the coming up weekend or the weekend after that or the weekend after that. But there’s not big conversations yet where we start going, ‘Okay guys, now we’ve got to start helping out the #48 or the #9, we’ve got to get them into the playoffs”

How the remaining seven races in the regular season unfold is a thing of mystery for everyone. Hendrick Motorsports and its fans will be wishing for a quick qualification for sure.

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