The 2023 season wasn’t what Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott would have wanted. After being relegated out of the playoffs for the first time in his Cup Series career, things definitely looked grim. But recently while speaking in an interview, the 2020 Cup Series champion explained how he isn’t exactly out to correct wrongs from the previous season.
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Elliott stated, “Last year was rough for a lot of reasons so excited for a new opportunity. But I feel like that every year. I feel like every season has such different vibe to it and even the ones that go well or that have gone good for us it’s really hard to carry that through the winter. And to restart, you know to carry that momentum that long.”
“I have always kind of viewed every years as a new start. Even though last year was on the bad end of seasons, my feeling going in is not much different that its been starting of other years either.”
He added, “We had a few opportunities to win and weren’t able to cash in on them. I think it wasn’t all doom and gloom, it was bad but don’t get me wrong it wasn’t all doom and gloom. I think realistically the things that we struggled with last year we were starting to struggle with at the end of 22’… So as I look back at that season I think some of the those things were pretty realistic there at the end of 22′. Unfortunately that carried into 23′.”
Speaking further Elliott explained that towards the end of the 23′ season things started to look better for the #9 team. Hence looking at the direction they are currently headed towards he feels this year would be an improved over the last one.
Will the 2024 season see Chase Elliott return to victory lane?
Sure fans had hoped that the Dawsonville native would take the chequer at least once during the 2023 season. Alas that didn’t come to fruition. Things just did not work out for him. But this season maybe quite different than the last one.
Last week, NASCAR kicked off the 2024 season with the Daytona 500 and Elliott managed to qualify 5th, even won the first stage, but he eventually finished in 14th place. Now looking forward to this weekend’s race at Atlanta and given his average finish is one of the highest among the competition at this racetrack, things could turn up to be a much better affair.
If things continue to progress in the way that Elliott and his team hopes to this year, a win or two should be in the bag. Ultimately, we should see him lock himself into the playoffs and not face the hurdles of the season prior.
