Chase Elliott Puts His Name on 2024 NASCAR Championship Ballot. Can He Go All the Way?

Nilavro Ghosh | 22/06/2024
Mar 9, 2024; Avondale, Arizona, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Elliott (9) during Cup Series qualifying at Phoenix Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Last season was one to forget for Chase Elliott as he did not win a single race and failed to make it to the playoffs for the first time in his Cup Series career. This season was always going to be one of redemption and although he did not have the best of starts, he has certainly pulled it back and redeemed himself.

The driver of the #9 car won at the Texas Motor Speedway and after finishing P3 at the Iowa Speedway, he is the points leader. So far this year, he has finished outside the top 15 only once and never outside of the top 20.

The Iowa result also put him at the top of CBS’ power rankings. This kind of form was a distant dream last year after he recovered from his leg injury. But can he go all the way and claim his second Cup Series victory?

In his championship-winning season, the Hendrick Motorsports star won five races. Interestingly, it was only in the second half of the 2020 season when Elliott picked up the pace. Meanwhile, Elliott has shown more consistency with his finishes in the first 17 races of the current season, thereby marking an overall improvement.

There are a lot of drivers Elliott has a healthy respect for in the NASCAR Cup Series today. One of them is the retiring Joe Gibbs Racing star, Martin Truex Jr.

Chase Elliott reveals his admiration and respect for Martin Truex Jr.

The two racers never interacted much on a personal basis but in a recent media interaction, the 2020 Cup Series champion said that he has a lot of respect for the stock-car racing veteran.

“I’ve always had a lot of respect for Martin. We’ve always gotten along well. We probably have never spoke more than 20 words to each other in my nine years. And we don’t have to. There’s always been a mutual respect there,” he said as per FOX.

With Truex Jr. retiring from full-time competition at the end of the season, it’ll be a somber affair for his fellow competitors and one last chance to battle each other on the track for the win.

Post Edited By: Srijan Mandal
Chase Elliott Martin Truex Jr.

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Nilavro Ghosh

Nilavro is a NASCAR journalist at The SportsRush. His love for motorsports began at a young age with F1 and spread out to other forms of racing like NASCAR and Moto GP. After earning his post-graduate degree from the Asian College of Journalism in 2020, he has mostly worked as a motorsports journalist. Apart from covering racing, his passion lies in making music primarily as a bass player.

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