$12000000 Worth HMS Star Left Confused by Rick Hendrick’s Playoff Scheme

By now, everyone knows that the 7-year-long playoff appearance streak has been broken for the frontman of Hendrick Motorsports. A lot of buzz went around the alleys of NASCAR before Watkins Glen, but that too ended on a brutal note when he ran out of fuel on lap 55. Quite unfortunate for the 2020 Cup Series champion, indeed. However, as the Hendrick Motorsports driver got into the owner’s championship rumble, seems like he is not entirely out of the playoff picture.

Although the crew chief, Alan Gustafson, will have some time to regain their old momentum and come back stronger for next year, the financial picture over the next 10 weeks is not clear, to say the least, not for this particular driver of Hendrick Motorsports.

Chase Elliott is in a gray area regarding how the upcoming prospect for Rick Hendrick will benefit him

Chase Elliott’s number 9 Chevy sits at rank 16. Besides #9, Hendrick Motorsports also has William Byron‘s #24 and Kyle Larson‘s #5 in the playoffs for the owner’s championship. It is a known fact that these contentions hold immense importance for the team owners. Say a driver gets injured and stays away from the track for several weeks. The owner must keep his car running. So, there must be something that the owners can race for.

The most important perk for both the owner and the driver is probably the money that it pays. However, moments before his maiden postseason run at Darlington, Chase Elliott admitted that he was still in the dark about how it would benefit him.

A reporter asked Elliott, “It’s a significant amount of bonus money not just for you but for the whole shop, right?”

Chase did not look quite confident about where he stood in all of this. He said, “I don’t really know how they structure that within the company…”

“(I) certainly understand from the NASCAR side that, that is significant. From where it goes after the teams get involved, I’m not exactly sure,” the No. 9 further added.

Watch this story: Amidst Playoff Concerns, Chase Elliott Dismisses the Idea of New Hendrick Motorsports Narrative

The entire NASCAR community knows Chase Elliott as an extremely selfless driver. Elliott thinks of his team before he thinks about himself. After he failed to make it into the playoffs, he perhaps felt like it was his fault. And hence, Chase Elliott has fixed his goal of moving into the owner’s championship.

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Despite his shortcomings, Chase Elliott is working towards the Hendrick Motorsports vision for 2023

With an estimated net value of over $315 million, Hendrick Motorsports is currently the most famous Cup Series team in NASCAR. And with that, Rick Hendrick is expecting his 300th Cup win to fall into his court anytime soon.

When asked how it would feel if Chase Elliott could secure the 300th win for Hendrick Motorsports, the 27-year-old Georgian native said that it would be great: “It’s a goal that we’ve set out to achieve as a company this year. I haven’t helped with that very much, but I would love to for sure.”

But in stock car racing with the next-gen cars, strategies are more important than the speed of your car. Surely, the Chevy icon has some tricks up his sleeve. Chase Elliott admitted,

“With the cars still being in the deal, I would love to completely just take a reset and try really hard to do things way different. And I am still going to try and do some of that but it is a fine line because the car’s still in. So we still have to go perform at a high level. These next 10 weeks are a great opportunity for me to do that. It still has meaning,” his voice resonated with hope.

Read more: Despite His Exit, Chase Elliott Stays Integral to Rick Hendricks in the Playoffs