Chase Elliott is still very much in the hunt for a NASCAR Cup Series championship bonus even if he doesn’t entirely know what it would look like yet.
It’s been well documented that Elliott, the 2020 Cup Series champion, is still racing for the owner’s championship this autumn despite being unable to advance into the driver’s championship last month. Elliott missed six races due to a snowboarding incident in March, was suspended for a race in June after intentionally crashing Denny Hamlin in the Coca-Cola 600 and is still winless on the season.
Last year, Kyle Larson, his teammate at Hendrick Motorsports, went on to race for the owner’s championship at Phoenix even after his elimination from the driver’s playoff and even negotiated a contractual clause that contained a bonus had he won that championship.
It’s worth noting that the owner’s standings is what NASCAR uses to pay teams at the end of the year. The driver’s championship is ceremonial even if it receives the most attention throughout the season. Elliott says he hasn’t talked about what he would receive if he wins that championship but also isn’t particularly worried about it either.
“We haven’t talked about it, but certainly with the precedent that was set last year, I would have to imagine there is experience in going through a situation like this,” Elliott said. “We haven’t discussed it. It’s not a concern of mine and the reason is that Rick has always been extremely fair to me. He’s always treated me with a lot of respect as it pertains to HMS or beyond.
“I guess I’m not worried because doing business with someone like him is not something that concerns. However, it works out, I’ll be treated fairly.”
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Elliott’s No. 9 car, that he has split with Corey Lajoie, Josh Berry and Jordan Taylor, enters this weekend at Talladega ninth in the owner’s Round of 12 two points below the Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 entry. Elliott says he feels the same intensity from previous years from when he has raced for a driver championship.
“My approach, and the team approach has not been any different, and it’s kind of surprised me in a way because there isn’t a lot of talk about the owners compared to the drivers but our once it got started, I didn’t feel any different from years past,” Elliott said. “It’s kept us motivated. It’s kept me motivated and we want to do a good job.
“So, nothing feels different, which is kind of odd.”
He says it’s odd because he never thought about the owner’s championship until he was nearing elimination from the driver’s championship but he’s embraced this goal all the same.
“Now that we’re here, it feels like a normal playoff year in my approach and our approach from we race week-to-week.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.