While last season was a major struggle for Chase Elliott, he has a renewed motivation entering the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series campaign.
The former NASCAR Cup Series champion dealt with some unfortunate issues last season, missing multiple races due to an off-track injury, and then missing another weekend due to a suspension stemming from an incident with Denny Hamlin. In the end, it all contributed to him going winless, and missing the playoffs in 2023.
Regardless of how difficult that stretch was for Elliott last season, the fire to do wondrous things on the track still burns hot inside of him as he’s preparing for a bounce-back 2024.
“I still enjoy racing very much. I enjoy the competition aspect of it more than anything, and I think for me, it’s probably misunderstood, I guess, or it sounds like it is, but I just want to be good at it,” Elliott said, via an interview with The Associated Press ahead of Sunday’s Daytona 500. “I want to be competitive. I want to feel like I’m holding up my end of the bargain and I just don’t feel like I have done a very good job.”
Evidently, Elliott’s first winless season since his sophomore season in 2017 hasn’t dampened his love for the sport. Continuing in his interview, the Hendrick wheelman elaborated on what he needs to do to change his narrative this season.
“The biggest thing is just getting competitive on a weekly basis,” Elliott added. “I want to win and want to put up big numbers like everyone does. But for me right now and our team, truthfully, the goal of mine is just being competitive on a weekly basis, just consistently be a contender.
“That’s all I’ve ever been after because I am a believer if you are a consistent contender each week, and if you are someone who shows up and has opportunities to win each week, you will get your share and be a car and driver that doesn’t surprise anyone with their results.”
Alas, Elliott’s path back to redemption begins at Daytona, in a race he has yet to conquer. In fact, no Hendrick Motorsports driver has won the Daytona 500 since Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2014. Elliott is hoping to change that this Sunday.
Time will tell if Chase Elliott can regain the success he’s had in the past, but don’t count the Hendrick star out after one disappointing season. The talent and the drive is there, and he’s out to prove the world wrong.
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