Chase Elliott entered the 2023 NASCAR season looking for redemption after a poor playoff run last season. Despite making the Championship 4, Elliott struggled in the playoffs and ended up crashing during the title race at Phoenix Raceway.
This came after the driver of the No. 9 car won the regular-season championship and a series-high five victories over the course of the 2022 season. Unfortunately for him, the Daytona 500 represented little redemption as he wrecked out for a 38th-place finish.
Elliott knocked off some of the rest at Auto Club Speedway when he improved his car and slowly climbed through the field for a second-place finish. However, he made a bold statement after the event as he finished behind a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion.
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Chase Elliott makes a bold statement after his second-place finish at Auto Club Speedway
Elliott has been more open to expressing his thoughts since the start of the 2022 season as NASCAR debuted its NextGen car. The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion has made comments about how the sport should be going forward, not backward.
This type of new expression from Elliott is not only for negative situations like the NextGen car. It has also occurred in situations where he expresses praise to other drivers, such as Stewart-Haas Racing driver Kevin Harvick.
Now, that has translated to Richard Childress Racing driver Kyle Busch. After he finished behind Busch at Auto Club, Elliott had this to say to FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass about the finishing situation on Sunday afternoon.
“Why is anyone surprised by (Kyle Busch winning)? That’s mind-boggling to me that anyone is surprised. Kyle is fantastic, one of the best race car drivers to ever do this. That didn’t change overnight. So I’m not surprised. And anybody who is should rethink their NASCAR knowledge, in my opinion…Obviously, he knows what he is doing, right?”
Chase Elliott praises Kyle Busch after his win at Auto Club Speedway
Elliott is right. It is not a surprise that Busch has been competing at a very high level to start the 2023 season. Quite frankly, the new Richard Childress Racing driver simply needed a change to return to his old form.
Busch is currently in his driver prime so it would not have made sense to see him drop off this quickly. It was a reminder that when given the right situation and equipment, there is not a more dangerous driver in the entire field.
It will be interesting to see how Busch’s first season with Richard Childress Racing goes overall; however, to the drivers, such as Elliott, this is not a surprise in the slightest.