Heading into Sunday’s race at Nashville, Chase Elliott is one of four drivers in the top 10 Cup standings without a win. In fact, he’s the highest-ranked winless driver — sitting in fourth place and 84 points behind series leader and Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron.
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It’s not like Elliott has had a bad season. On the contrary, in the first 13 races of the 26-race regular season, while Elliott is winless, he has three top-five and seven top-10 finishes. He has zero DNFs and has led 76 laps.
Still, fans and media seem to be worried about the 2020 Cup Series champion, that there is a perception he may not make the playoffs if he doesn’t reach victory lane at least once in the next 13 races — which would give him an automatic berth in the playoffs.
There have only been eight different race winners in the first 13 events. But Elliott has held his own with his consistency. That’s why, while others may be worried about where he is in the standings and still winless, Elliott isn’t worried at all.
“I mean, yeah, certainly (it’s) better to be in that position than on the other side of the fence, no doubt,” Elliott said during media availability on Saturday. “But I’d be lying if I said that was my top focus. It’s just not. I think that if you’re worried about barely getting into the playoffs, I think you have some work to do.”
Elliott spoke about how his thought process is about much more than just wanting to win a race. “I want to be in the group of people of how many playoff points do you have, not just barely getting in. Our expectations and goals are above that, and we hope that we can achieve all of our goals,” he added.
Elliott still conceded that it was nice to be on that side of the fence, without question. However, he acknowledged that there was still a lot of racing left before the cutoff. He added that winning would likely solve most problems.
Concerned? Yes. Worried? No.
But Elliott is also aware that with zero playoff points and no stage wins in the first 13 races, that does kind of put him at somewhat of a disadvantage. However, he just doesn’t seem to be overly worried. “No, I don’t (worry about it),” he said.
“I wouldn’t say I’m anxious about it. I just want to go and achieve it. You know, those are our goals and those are the things that we want to go out there and achieve. I don’t feel any anxiety from that. I just want to make it happen,” he continued.
Amassing a large number of points will likely keep him far above the cutoff line heading toward the final race of the 26-race regular season. But he admits it’s something he thinks about.
“If you don’t (win) and you have a bunch of winners, you can find yourself in a tough spot,” Elliott said, suggesting that a large number of points could potentially not be enough to make the playoffs, especially if he hits a streak of poor finishes in the next 13 events.
“We’ve been in that spot before, too. So yeah, we want to not find ourselves in a tough position come the end of Week 26,” he concluded. For now, one win is all Elliott needs to get the job done until playoffs begin.
