Quietly, Chase Elliott is leading the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings and looks poised to challenge for a final four appearance during the playoffs this autumn.
It’s quiet because Elliott has just one win, at Texas Motor Speedway in April, but also doesn’t have a single finish outside of the top-20. His 9.1 average finish is not only the best in the Cup Series but also the only drive with a single digit average result.
And while it’s almost certainly going to take wins to advance to the championship race, Elliott leading the standings and doing so through the end of the regular season could award him 15 additional bonus points, the equivalent of three more wins.
All of this is to say that the Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 group feels really strong.
“Yeah, I mean like I said, I feel that our team has been in a good spot, really all year,” Elliott said. “To be honest, I’ve been super happy with where we’re at; really happy with everything, in general, top to bottom. I feel like we’re all in a good place. I feel like I’m in a good spot with what I’m looking for in the car.
“I feel like Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) is in a good place with knowing how to give me some of those things. I think that for us, we’ve just got to continue to keep working down those paths. I think that we’d like to have a couple more wins than we have right now. But at the same time, I’ve always been a believer that if you’re upfront – putting yourself in position, stringing together good finishes – you’re going to have your opportunities. I don’t feel any different about that now. I think we just have to keep doing what we’re doing.”
Elliott has benefited from teammate Kyle Larson missing a race (the Coca-Cola 600 in lieu of the rain delayed Indianapolis 500) but also then crashing out of Iowa with Denny Hamlin, who has also been in that regular season championship mix. Regardless, he now has an eight point lead over Larson and 38 over Hamlin.
Did Elliott take immediate stock that he was the points leader after Iowa?
“Yeah, obviously they told me out there after the race,” Elliott said. “But yeah, it’s nice to be leading the points. Obviously, like I just said, there’s a lot of racing left. I think that we have room for improvement still yet, and the reality of it was that Kyle had an unfortunate situation last weekend.
“We would like to get to a position where we could just be better and get more points, and so on and so forth. That’s where I’m at. I think that there’s still things we can do better; still things I can do better.. bringing more pace and just trying to be a little quicker. I think all of those things are really right there for us in the taking. Hopefully we can add that to our foundation that we have right now and I think we’ll be in a good spot.”
So, can this be another championship caliber season?
“Yeah, I mean I think obviously the way the playoffs are now is different than what it used to be,” Elliott said. “So you have to be really good in those last 10 races and you really have to be extraordinary in the last three or four. I think a lot of it is just having a solid enough base and a solid enough foundation to get you through those first two rounds without many problems; just have solid days. And then you want to be super good in those last three or four weeks.
“I think that we’re capable of doing that with where we’re at right now. We just have to keep it rolling. We’re only halfway through the year, so there’s a lot of racing left. A lot can change; a lot can happen. It can go your way or it could not, and ultimately it’s up to us to determine the direction it goes.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.
