“It’s a Mental Thing” – NASCAR Veteran Explains Why Chase Elliott Could Be Struggling This Season

Chase Elliott was one of the few drivers who took to the Next Gen car easily in the NASCAR Cup Series, taking home five wins in the 2022 season. Unsurprisingly, Elliott was one of the favorites coming into 2023, with many believing this year the Hendrick Motorsports driver might go the whole way. 16 races in, the prediction couldn’t be more wrong.

Elliott has no race wins this season, partly due to missing a ton of races due to a leg injury, and partly because he just hasn’t replicated last season’s form.

This is something that has surprised NASCAR analysts across the board, with some feeling he might even miss making the championship 4 for the first time in three years.

Kyle Petty Can’t Explain Chase Elliott’s Road Course Struggles

The 2020 Cup Series champion, who is one of the best drivers on road courses, has struggled on the same in the Next Gen era. Recently, NASCAR veteran and analyst, Kyle Petty was asked about Elliott’s struggle on road courses and was similarly surprised, saying, “You went to the Roval, you go to Watkins Glen, you go to Sonoma, I don’t care, you put Chase Elliott in that older car and he just got it done. I don’t know what he did or he drove or what his secret was but he just got it done. He’s not got it done in this car.”

“If I go back to last year and take all of his road course finishes he basically averages 9th or 10th finish last year. If you go to the season before that he was averaging 1st or 2nd place probably. He was winning races and doing all that stuff.”

Petty also raised a larger point about why he thought Elliott struggled and unsurprisingly, this had something to do with missing races, something that has plagued the driver throughout the season, be it due to injury or suspension.

Petty on why Chase Elliott has not found rhythm this season

The veteran brought up how missing races played a huge role in a driver not performing up to the mark, something that he himself experienced in his long racing career. Emphasizing the importance of momentum to stay in touch with the field, Petty said, “When you miss races, you always walk into the garage area thinking you are behind. Always. That guy has run 10 more races this year than I have, that guy has run 12 more races, I’m just playing catch-up this year.”

“It’s a mental thing.”

With 16 races done this year and still no win, there is certainly pressure on the Hendrick Motorsports ace to seal his spot in the playoffs. For his own sake, he will look to snatch a win in the next couple of races and not leave it too late.