The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season was nightmare for Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott . He started the season strong, before getting in a snowboarding accident ahead of the third race of the season. He was sidelined for six weeks due to a tibia injury and it ended the positive momentum. This resulted in a winless season and him missing the playoffs.
Chase Elliott ended his 42-race winless streak that started last year at Talladega on last Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway. It was convincing win that saw him grid his way to the top and eventually the. It was a result of the consistent top-10s he has scored so far this season and according to JGR’s Denny Hamlin, this consistency puts him in championship conversation.
Hamlin, while talking about the Texas race on his podcast Action Detrimental pointed out that the win has given Elliott huge confidence going into the reminder of the season. He pointed out that this result would give him a good understanding of the car and it can have a positive influence on his approach of the coming races.
And what that does for a driver's confidence is, I can't tell you how much it helps. Because now he's like, okay, this is how aggressive I have to be, this is what I need out of my car for it to be fast. You start to understand all those things and next thing you know, these wins start just reeling off. And so, absolutely, I would consider. Denny Hamlin said via Action Detrimental.
Denny Hamlin breaks down how Chase Elliott had a legitimate win at Texas
The three times Daytona 500 winner pointed out that Elliott win wasn’t a product of a race strategy or fuel mileage. The No:9 team passed the leaders with the right approach multiple times and kept the lead on the last laps with right decision making.
He didn't do it on strategy or fuel mileage or anything like that, like, he made a move, right? He passed me in the 45 on a restart, went three wide bottom, cleared us, took the lead. Now, I took the lead back from him because I thought generally our car was just a little better, but then he got us on a restart and then he held those guys off for the win. So that's a legitimate race win. Denny Hamlin said.
The JGR driver is convinced that the 2020 Cup champion has put himself back in the championship contention with the win that would increase his confidence a lot. It would be interesting to how many more race wins the No:9 team can secure in the upcoming race weeks and the whole season.
More must-reads: