Chase Elliott feels confident facing elimination at Martinsville

While Chase Elliott has to leave Martinsville with a win to make the Championship 4, the Hendrick Motorsports driver is feeling confident. So, what makes him feel so good about making the NASCAR finale next week?

Chase Elliott qualified P2 on Saturday. However, even before he saw what he car was capable of, Elliott expressed his quiet confidence.

Speaking to the media ahead of practice and qualifying yesterday, Elliott explained why he has so much belief in himself and his team.

“I just feel good about where we’re at. I think we’ve run really well the last two weeks,” Elliott said, via Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports. “Thought our team was operating at an extremely high level last weekend across the board, so great time to be doing that. I think we’re all in a really good place, I’m in a good place with everything. Yeah, just proud of how we’ve been running. We’ve been right in the thick of it, and right in the mix.

“You know when you’re giving yourself those opportunities I think why wouldn’t you be confident coming to a place that we have been able to run well at before, and you know, even more so leaving two places we have not run well at historically and came off two good weekends. So, yeah, I’m really looking forward to it just ready to get going and get to work.”

After putting the No. 9 car on the front row, I bet Chase Elliott feels great about his chances. He has had a good amount of success at the Paperclip.

Chase Elliott has good history at Martinsville

When you look at how Chase Elliott has performed at Martinsville in the Next Gen era, it is impressive. He has an average finish of P10. Between 2020 and 2023 he rattled off three straight finishes of P10. He also earned the pole award at the first Next Gen race at the track.

Of course, in the spring of this year, Elliott was P3 behind William Byron and Kyle Larson in a podium sweep for HMS. He qualified P3 and that is where he crossed the finish line. Elliott starts on the front row with Martin Truex Jr. on the pole. That is a tough driver to beat.

Depending on who wins this race and how the points shake out, Hendrick could have three drivers in the Championship 4 or no drivers. That is hard to imagine after they briefly had all four drivers and teams in the Round of 8. Then Alex Bowman got DQ’d from the Roval.

Chase Elliott felt good about his chances before qualifying. Then he went out and showed off his speed for everyone to see. Are we going to see a walk-off win, a clutch performance from Awesome Bill’s kid?