Throughout all of his years in the NASCAR Cup Series, Chase Elliott has never seen life outside of the playoffs. But this season, that has come true. Elliott missed out on qualifying for the playoffs, after being unable to win a race throughout the season. Now, not all of it was his fault, since he was out of the car after having suffered a leg injury earlier in the year.
Advertisement
On top of that, he still can salvage something from the season considering he is still a contender with the #9 team in the owner’s championship. This was something that Jeff Burton and Dale Jarrett recently touched upon. The two NASCAR legends also acknowledged the current circumstances around Elliott and highlighted what he and his team needed to do in the immediate future.
NASCAR Legends comments about Chase Elliott’s postseason
Speaking first, Jeff Burton mentioned, “Honestly, there’s a lot of pride… You’re Hendrick Motorsports, like you want to be a champion, you expect to be a contender for championships. I also think outside of all that it’s just, you know, that team needs something to rally around, right?”
He added, “It needs some motivation so that you don’t just go through this year just saying, Man, I just can’t wait for this year to be over. And you can understand how they could get there. So I think it provides an opportunity for this team to go out and prove to themselves what they can get done on the racetrack.”
“You’re Hendrick Motorsports. You want to be a champion.”@JeffBurton and @DaleJarrett explain how Chase Elliott is racing for pride and money in the last 10 races. pic.twitter.com/VYr1ZV7NYh
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) August 28, 2023
Speaking further about Elliott, 3x Daytona 500 winner Dale Jarrett added, “I think the things that came to my mind are the pride and the money, which these teams need. I think the biggest thing for Chase Elliott and Alan Gustafson is that they figure out a way to become more competitive. I think that’s the biggest thing.”
Jarrett further explained how in the past six weeks the #9 team had to “figure out and manufacture ways” in order to get themselves the much-required race win. He added that racing with that mentality was not exactly their style.
“They need to figure out how to make their cars better and faster for Chase to challenge for wins by running well, not trying to manufacture something. If they can’t do that, somewhere in these next 10 races, how do you look at 2024 and start thinking about making a championship run?”
Chase Elliott won’t have an easy ride in the owner’s championship
However, Jarrett remained realistic about the challenges they faced. He noted, “There’s nothing telling me that they’ve been holding something back and they’re all of a sudden gonna find it.”
Furthermore, Jarrett cautioned against expecting a miraculous breakthrough in the playoffs, stating it to be a tough task. He stated, “You’re talking about the playoffs has started and everybody’s stepping their game up and you think that you’re going to go work your way magically through all of this. I think it’s going to be a tough tax.”
Despite these challenges, the NASCAR legend emphasized that the responsibility fell on Elliott, his team, and their sponsor to rise to the occasion and strive for success with what’s remaining of the 2023 season.
