More than halfway into the NASCAR season, it is fair to say that Chase Elliott has been unable to perform at the level he has performed at for most of his Cup Series career. Not many expected the 2020 Cup Series champion to struggle to even make it into the postseason. This weekend as we head down to New Hampshire, expectations already seem diminished after Elliott found himself struggling throughout practice and qualifying.
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Interestingly, Hendrick Motorsports hasn’t fared well on this specific track in the past. Recently, while speaking to the media, the HMS driver shared his thoughts about his current problems in New Hampshire, while ruling out the possibility of scoring a win without copious amounts of luck on his side.
Chase Elliott mentions signs of struggle for this weekend’s race
The HMS driver was asked if had any faith that he would be able to pull off an amazing comeback drive and end up somewhere on top of the charts. Answering the question, Elliott stated, “It doesn’t happen very often. Very, very rarely in my career have I ever really struggled through practice and qualifying and just miraculously hit it. I mean, it’s happened. But it’s pretty few and far between. So just make the most of it. You never know what tomorrow’s gonna bring.”
“Looks like there’s a pretty good chance that they’re bringing some rain. Outside of that, I don’t know what it’s going to bring you on track on Monday or tomorrow night or whoever it is. So hopefully better than today and we can just make the most of whatever we have. You know whatever is present to us. That’s all we can do.”
Elliott talks about not being good at New Hampshire
When asked if this was a good track for him and his team, the 2020 Cup Series champion added, “No this is not been a good track for me, I would say it all really. We ran good up here last year and I wasn’t really sure why. To be honest, so we had actually, believe it or not, had a good test here a month and a half, a couple of months ago whenever it was. Fortunately, doesn’t seem to be helping us much for today.”
Following his qualifying run for the race this weekend, Elliott could only rake up a time good enough for the 18th place. His time was a -0.142 gap behind the pole sitter, Christopher Bell. If there is any consolation, Elliott would be starting the race ahead of his HMS teammate, Alex Bowman (25th), who is also out of the playoffs for now.
