Chase Elliott’s winless streak in the Next Gen car has now extended to 40 races spread across three seasons. The last time he was able to collect the checkered flag in lead was at Talladega in 2022. Recently in a conversation with Dale Jr. on “Dale Jr. Download”, Elliott opened up about his struggles in the new car and how two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch was having similar kinds of troubles in it.
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Elliott’s key problem with the car was how he couldn’t get it to do what he wanted. He said that he has now accepted the fact that the car doesn’t abide by him and has changed his driving style accordingly. “It is hard to just make it do what I want it to do,” he said. “I just don’t think that’s possible. Not anymore. I don’t think it’s possible in this thing. So, I’ve accepted that.”
Continuing, he mentioned that Busch had spoken to him about the same and acknowledged that he couldn’t tame his car either. Elliott said, “He even mentioned it to me one time. He’s like, ‘Man, I feel like these things that we’re struggling with are really similar.’ I think they are. So he and I have talked about some of this and whatnot in the last probably three or four months. I think it’s spot on.”
Despite the difficulties that the car presents, Elliott is happy that he is being challenged in a way. He talked about how he recognized the issue that he was having and had been working on it for the last several months. He believes that the current season is all about him transitioning into the kind of driver who has mastered the Next Gen car.
Chase Elliott’s journey of struggle in the Next-Gen Car
Earlier on the podcast, Chase Elliott mentioned that his #9 Hendrick Motorsports team began having issues with the Next Gen right when it was introduced in 2022. Although that year’s points table makes it seem like they had a good year, Elliott says otherwise.
He believed that the reason he was able to garner a few wins was due to his competitors still figuring out how to adjust to the Next Gen car. Once they got the hang of it, they were able to bypass him easily. “I think from that point forward, our struggles began,” he said. “Right then and there and I saw it. I saw it happen. Some race tracks, you could kind of get away with it.”
Elliott brought up his runner-up finish in Fontana (2023) to make the case and continued that it had taken him the rest of the year to recognize and get a good understanding of the problem.
