Chase Elliott has been one of the most talented and consistent drivers in the Cup Series over the last number of years, but 2023 is one that he will want to forget. After missing six races at the start of the season due to injury and one due to a suspension, the #9 driver of Hendrick Motorsports finds himself outside the playoff places with just one race to go in the regular season. The worst part is that it is on a track Elliott has never won a race before, Daytona. The 27-year-old does not let his emotional side too much out on the track, but Saturday might be a day filled with ranging emotions.

In a recent episode of the NASCAR on NBC podcast, analysts Dale Jarrett and Nate Ryan spoke about Elliott’s chances at Daytona. While the odds are stacked against the former champion, there still is a sliver of hope. Jarrett believes that if Chase Elliott does manage to pull off an unlikely victory somehow, fans would see an emotional side of him that last came out when he won the NASCAR Cup Series championship.

Might See Emotion That We Haven’t Seen From Chase Elliott, Says NASCAR Insider

Jarrett believes that while history may not favor Elliott, the one thing that he has going for him is that the last 13 races at the Coke Zero 400 have seen 13 different winners. Elliott has yet to win at the venue and Jarrett believes that HMS will give him a competitive car on the weekend.

“I think that probably internally, he knows that he’s gonna have a car that will be capable of winning the race but it’s hard to exude that confidence in this particular race because of what history tells us and what we’ve seen recently and I think if he wants to look at something more positive, he and Alex Bowman, the last 13 Coke Zero 400, we’ve had 13 different winners, neither one of them is named Chase Elliott or Alex Bowman,” he said. 

“So yeah, that does give them some opportunity to do that but there’s a whole list of them lined up there too that’s trying to do the same thing and you’ve got five former winners at Daytona that are sitting outside the playoffs right now,” the NASCAR analyst added.

Jarrett also said that Elliott will let out his emotional side at Daytona if he does manage to pull off a victory.

“I know that if this should happen for him then he’s gonna be extremely excited and we’ll see, probably some emotion that maybe we haven’t seen from Chase Elliott since he won the championship if he’s able to pull off this win Saturday night,” he said.

Nate Ryan agreed with this view as he said that Chase Elliott’s fans will be happy to see their favorite driver let all the emotions out in what has been the toughest season of his career.

“I know a lot of Chase Elliott fans would be happy to see the most popular driver showing those kinds of emotions because I think you’re right. This has obviously been the toughest season of his career,” Ryan said.

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HMS Driver Reveals Team’s Daytona Plans

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Both Elliott and Alex Bowman have a must-win race on Saturday and only one of them can make it into the playoffs if they can win the race. While all signs point against either of them winning the race, their HMS teammate William Byron would be looking to help at least one of the two drivers to get into the playoffs.

“Yeah, I mean, just try to help those guys as much as we can,” said Byron.

“Superspeedways is really the place that we can help the most… All the other tracks, it’s tough to help, unless you’re just really equal and battling it out. But superspeedways is a chance, everyone is really close there.”

“Hopefully, we can push those guys when we need to. I intend on being aggressive there and just making sure all my belts are tight and make sure we’re ready to go,” he added.

Despite already having two drivers in the playoff places, the 2023 season has not been a memorable one for Hendrick Motorsports. If they manage to get either Elliott or Bowman into the playoffs, it would be a positive, but HMS will hope to have a stronger performance in the playoffs.

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