Chase Elliott vs Martin Truex Jr.: Which NASCAR Champion Will Blink First in Battle of DNFs?

Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. Lead Larson and Busch as NASCAR’s Best Road Course Racers

The 2020 Cup Series champion Chase Elliott has been running consistently this season. He tops the points table with five races left in the regular season and has finished outside the top 20 just once. A more impressive fact is that he has not attracted a DNF in 34 races now. The last time Elliott did not finish a race was in Michigan last year.

Martin Truex Jr is right up there alongside him with the second-longest streak of completed races. The 2017 Cup Series champion has now gone 23 races without a DNF. The last time he didn’t finish was at Homestead-Miami last year. Notably, Elliott and Truex Jr. are the only two remaining drivers in the field not to have a DNF this season. It has come down to a contest of who can hold out the longest.

As far as form goes, Elliott is in a much better space than his elder counterpart. Truex Jr. is set to retire at the end of the season and has had extreme results thus far. He has four top-5 finishes but also five finishes outside the top 20. He was treading dangerous lines when he came in 33rd place at the Chicago Street Course earlier this month.

Pocono gave him a welcome relief as he finished in eighth place to regain some composure. However, the job is far from over for the Joe Gibbs driver. Elliott has already fixed a spot in the playoffs courtesy of a victory in Texas. Truex Jr., however, is yet to do so. He has five more races left to hammer down a seat in the postseason and a DNF at this point can be catastrophic.

He is currently 137 points above the elimination line. Between him and the line are Ty Gibbs (+67), Chris Buescher (+44) Ross Chastain (+27). All these drivers will be hoping to qualify on points and will jump at Truex Jr. should he slip up. Hopefully, he can keep the no-DNF streak going for a few more weeks now in his final Cup Series season.

The next fixture on the calendar falls at the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Oval. NASCAR returns to the venue after a three-year hiatus and the unknowns are a lot since the NextGen has never been raced on it.

Truex Jr.’s last appearance on the track ended in a DNF in 2020 after he crashed early on the pit road. He has failed to finish four races at the track over 16 appearances. Numbers he ought to be wary of. 

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

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Gowtham Ramalingam

Gowtham is a NASCAR journalist at The SportsRush. Though his affinity for racing stems from Formula 1, he found himself drawn to NASCAR's unparalleled excitement over the years. As a result he has shared his insights and observations by authoring over 3000 articles on the sport. An avid fiction writer, you can find him lost in imaginary worlds when he is not immersed in racing. He hopes to continue savoring the thrill of every lap and race together with his readers for as long as he can.

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