Winless Elliott Hopes To Break Through At Pocono

LONG POND, Pa. — Chase Elliott enters Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway fourth in the standings, but he has yet to visit victory lane this season.Elliott, who has four top five and eight top-10 finishes in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, visited with the media Saturday morning at the 2.5-mile track.
Elliott said one of the things holding his No. 9 team back is qualifying.

“I think there are a lot of things that go into that. It’s a little bit of everything truthfully, but I think probably the biggest one, is qualifying,” Elliott said. “You know I think the qualifying thing is so important and an area that I have struggled in. No doubt. So, when I look at some of the races…I look at Michigan, I think Michigan is a good example.  We got ourselves up front and when that happened, I thought we were super competitive.  It was like night and day from running around 10th to 20th and just a lot of traffic, and starting runs in traffic and it can just really dictate what your car drives like.
“So, I think being up front, having a really good pit stall, keeping yourself up there, it can change the complexion of your day in such a large way that it can really be overlooked.  So, I think that would be really top of mind for me as I look at what is one thing that we can do to help ourselves, and I think that is probably it.”
Elliott was asked if his team was having a good season through the first 16 races.
“That is a good question. Good? Sure, but it’s not where I want to be no doubt,” the 2020 Cup Series champion said. “I think for us there have been some high spots and to be honest, there have been weeks where we have run well where we have had a good finish, and there have been weeks where we have not had a good finish and I can go home and be like, ‘Man, we were in the mix, and we had good pace today’. And those are the weeks where you just want to feel like you are in the ball game as it pertains to pace, doing the right things, and getting up in there and giving yourself a shot.
“Those days I can go home and have something to be proud of. It’s the days and weekends where we are just not even relevant that I think are the most frustrating to me,” Elliott noted. “We have had more of those than I would want to have and that we would want to have as a team. So, I think it’s been good but not satisfactory for myself or to our team, but there is still a lot of racing left in the season and I think we have ourselves in a position to make a mediocre day alright. We can build from it, and we still have a chance.”
Like his three Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Elliott has enjoyed plenty of consistency this season.
“The consistency has been good, but this deal really rewards winning. It’s way more important to win and to get those playoff points in fives than to have to wait till the end of the regular season and maybe get eight or 10, depending on where you finish in the points,” Elliott said. “So, you need to have some wins, and you need to finish good in the points and then kind of double down on that to get yourself in a really good spot. The consistency is nice, no question.
“I think our team has done a really good job taking some of those days where we were not having a good day, and digging in, and finding a way to just get something halfway decent out of it. Sometimes that can be a really hard thing to do, and I am really proud of them for that. Because it’s easy to throw in the towel on those days, just lose it and be done and go try again next week. But we as a whole, we don’t know any better and we just keep trying, keep pushing, and make the most out of whatever the day has brought us.”
Elliott also won the pole for Saturday’s Xfinity Series race.