No matter the angle or perspective one looks at it from, the 2023 season for Chase Elliott for a disappointment to say the least. However, one thing which isn’t all that concrete is the reason behind the same. Of course, an entire season’s picture comes to the surface after several strokes and factors, but one factor that many believed to be the key reason behind Elliott’s sour season isn’t actually a factor that Elliott himself considers when looking back on his season. That factor being his injury earlier in the year.
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Elliott recently reflected back on his season with a pinch of optimism, a season in which he not only failed to win a single race, but one in which he failed to make the playoffs as well. He said as per Hendrick Motorsports, “I definitely feel like we have improved throughout the year.”
The #9 driver then turned his attention on his injury playing a role in his season, claiming, “Looking back on it, I don’t think being out and my injury is the reason for that. As I learn more about my season and myself and how things have unfolded, I feel like my struggles and the things I’ve fought through this year I was starting to fight through last year, too.” Elliott added that he picked up in 2023 where he left off in 2022, that he was going to have those things to “work through regardless.”
However, his injury was something Elliott would rather have avoided, deeming it “another bump” he wouldn’t rather have gone through.
Chase Elliott and the #9 team just lost their mojo in 2023
Of course, an injury such as the one Elliott suffered and the time he faced outside of the racecar as a result of that could definitely hamper the confidence of the very best. And of course, his one-race suspension penalty by NASCAR also had a role to play in affecting his position amongst his rivals.
Still, apart from those things, or rather, despite those things, Chase Elliott and the #9 team had a few opportunities to redeem themselves, especially toward the end of the regular season. Yet for one reason or the other, for one misfortune or the other, things simply didn’t go their way, not only because of poor fortunes but also because the #9 team just weren’t themselves in 2023. Throughout the season, they were average at best, looking a distant shadow of their former selves. After all, Elliott is a Cup champion.
But then again, every driver, every athlete has a down phase, a dark period in their careers. Perhaps this past season was that for Chase Elliott. So it goes without saying all that he’d be hoping and working towards now would be to bounce back from the disappointing season which was 2023 for him.
