“You Have to Just Ride It” – Chase Elliott Accepts His Fate Amid Harsh Playoff Battle

The race against time has begun for Chase Elliott. Coming into the season, the reigning five-time most popular driver himself wouldn’t have expected to land in this situation. Failing to find a win in the regular season schedule, the 2020 champion will arrive at Richmond in 21st place in the points standings. It looks like Chase finally addressed the humongous challenges ahead in the season’s final races.

Speaking to Virginia’s primary newspaper of record, the Richmond Times, Hendrick Motorsports #9 confirms the piling up of pressure on him but also sheds light on the importance of steadying the ship amid rough tides.

Chase Elliott opens up about the unpredictable nature of racing in NASCAR

“I feel good from that standpoint, too,” Chase claims about the mindset going into Richmond. Chase has been known for his composure in his time in NASCAR, but the time to make the best of the situation is slowly ending. Hendrick Motorsports will also be looking to solve the dilemma of allotting resources. Two contrasting scenarios have arisen for the team, with William Byron vying for the regular-season championship. On the other hand, Alex Bowman and Elliott continue to search for a win to seal their passage.

Talking about the cruel truth of the sport and with a special emphasis on the need to be resilient, he said, “This is a sport that is going to be a roller coaster sometimes and you have to just ride it and there’s going to be days where everything goes your way and even periods of time that it seems like things are going good and there’s going to be times where it’s not.

“But I think the big thing to that is just ride the roller coaster and you know, don’t get too far up on the good days and then also apply that on the bad ones too.”

Bad luck has been the theme of Elliott’s season. From injuries to suspensions, races have slipped out of his hands with both avoidable and unfortunate causes. Waived off for the playoffs, he now has to tighten up his seatbelts as one of the most intense phases of his career unfolds.

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“We’ve just got to extract it”: Chase Elliott stays optimistic about his odds

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Elliott has missed seven races this season. Six because of his tibia injury earlier in the year, and the rest because of a suspension at the Gateway for intentionally hooking Denny Hamlin in the Coca-Cola 600. Currently, he is behind Alex Bowman, who occupies the 20th position and is 56 points away from the cutoff mark.

After Pocono, a win at Richmond will aid Elliott in securing his streak of qualifying for the playoffs for eight consecutive seasons. Building up hope for the upcoming race on Sunday, he spoke to Speedway Digest and exclaimed,

“My thought process since all this happened was that we would have to win and that’s what everyone was saying until we had a few good weeks of points and then everyone was like, ‘He can point his way in.’ The storylines can change pretty fast.”

Elliott has secured three top 5s and four top 10s this season. His worst position in the last six races has been 13th, which indicates a fair amount of return in every race. But if things keep going the way they are, Elliott will have it tough while simultaneously competing with other drivers in the bubble.

“It’s in there; we’ve just got to extract it,” he said, speaking about the target in sight.

With Richmond proving to be a stronghold for Chase Elliott lately, he will be relying on his past record. In 14 starts at the 0.75-mile track, he has five top-5s and six top-10 performances. With a decent record to his name, Elliott will look to replicate teammate Kyle Larson’s success at the venue in the spring race.

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