It’s a well-known fact just how good Chase Elliott is on road courses. With 7 wins, he ranks third on the all-time road course winners list, just two wins shy of becoming NASCAR’s most successful road racer in history. And considering where he is at this point in the 2023 season, winless, and on the brink of not making it into the playoffs, his prolific record on road courses could come in handy.
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However, Elliott doesn’t want that to happen. Of course, the #9 driver wants to win a race to make it into the next round of the season. But he doesn’t want it to be a lucky win or a standalone win or, in his own words, a win at “one magic racetrack.”
Chase Elliott wouldn’t prefer a win on ‘one magic racetrack’
During a press conference ahead of the weekend in Pocono, Elliott was asked whether he feels he has an opportunity to win at a certain racetrack and make his way into the playoffs. “I don’t think so. I’m sure everybody wants me to say a road course or something here or there, but no, I don’t feel that way. I wanna have that opportunity every week. That’s where I want to be,” he replied.
“That is the position you need to be in to go and have a legitimate shot of winning the actual whole deal. You have one magic racetrack that gets you into the playoffs, that’s not going to get you to Phoenix. You’re not going to ride that miracle all the way through,” Elliott continued.
“So we want to be good every week and we’re capable of being good every week. It’s not just that we want to, we’re capable of doing it but we need to go make it happen and that’s where I want to get to and we’re going to keep working really hard to get there and hopefully we can get in the show.”
“And if we don’t, we’re going to continue to work really hard throughout the rest of the year whether we get in or not to try to win and improve and make ourselves better.”
Elliott sees Pocono as a potential win
Elliott, hungry for his first win this season, claimed that Pocono could be the first which not only sets their rhythm in the right direction but helps them make it further into the season. The most popular driver of the sport also added that while Pocono hasn’t been good for him in the past, he still considers it an opportunity to improve.
“This weekend I think is an opportunity. Has it been a phenomenal race track for me? No, it hasn’t, but it is an opportunity to get better,” he explained. “And you want to try to improve and that is where my head is at,” he said.
