With two races in the rearview mirror in 2024, Hendrick Motorsports ace speedster and NASCAR’s golden boy, Chase Elliott, hasn’t been able to accomplish what he set out for—to redeem himself of last season’s dismal performance and enthrall the fanbase with a solid comeback. And as we near another race weekend, the #9 driver feels like a lot of it falls on him.

Frontstretch’s Michael Massie, among other media members, spoke with Chase Elliott about his early struggles in 2024 while his other teammates have had some success. In fact, the 2020 Cup Series champion also gets blunt, saying that the intermediate track at Las Vegas has never been his best track. Despite that, the driver is optimistic that he will get the desired result for the work he and his team have put in.

“This has been our worst track” – Chase Elliott gets real about Las Vegas Motor Speedway 

Ever since his snowboarding accident last year in March, Chase Elliott seems like he is not the same driver he used to be. The #9 driver is yet to regain winning form and is looking to find that rhythm to reclaim his throne as NASCAR’s best driver. With the season-opening at Daytona, all Elliott could do was manage a P14 finish at the 2.5-mile speedway and a P16 finish at his home track in Atlanta.

As the Cup Series extravaganza reaches the desert in Las Vegas, Elliott makes a candid confession, revealing that the intermediate track has never been his favorite track and taking the blame all on himself while lauding his team for their stellar performances. In fact, the mile-and-a-half race track in the desert at Las Vegas has never been Chase Elliott’s best.

Out of the 13 starts at the venue, Elliott was caught up in accidents three times and is yet to win a single race at the mile-and-a-half tri-oval. His last best finish came in 2021 when his #9 HMS Chevy crossed the finish line as the second-fastest despite starting 11th. Reflecting on this, he said, “They’ve run really well out here the whole time really ever since I’ve been in HMS this has been a really solid track for you know for Hendrick as a whole so yeah we’ve certainly dove into every avenue and trying to be better and you know I think a lot of it falls on me and just how I attack the racetrack and how I drive the car.” 

Elliott then got real about his struggles and exclaimed, “Like I said, we’re not sure if you were standing here, but we’ve put a ton of effort in over the last couple weeks, like this has been our worst track, I would say, hands down over the last two years.” He then shared his optimism, opening up on what would be an ideal result for the #9 team. He added, “A lot of emphasis and effort have gone into this weekend, and I hope, I’m hopeful that it pays off, you know, at least to improve from where we’ve been, and, you know, if we can have a shot to win, or, you know, running up on the top five, that’d be awesome.” 

Elliott spills the beans about his “rebound year”

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After a rather miserable 2023 campaign that was set off track with an unfortunate accident at the worst time, HMS fans have long awaited the return of their favorite driver, Chase Elliott. And it looks like they will have to wait a little longer. Looking to bounce back at the season opener at Daytona, Elliott set out to find the winning start he needed and snap his 36-race winless drought but had to go home with a 14th-place finish.

Then the action went to his home track in Georgia, the mile-and-a-half race track in Atlanta. Eyeing a decisive result and redeeming himself, Elliott went out but only got a 16th-place finish. Now, after these lackluster performances, the driver addressed the “rebound year” narrative that has been weighing on him. According to Fox Sports, he said, “It’s not about rebounding or whatever. It’s just getting to the level that we feel we’re capable of achieving.”

The conversation also unfolded the #9’s action plan, “We’ve identified some areas that need to be improved upon. Step one is identifying it. And then after that, it’s going to work and trying to find solutions.” Moreover, Elliott has his eyes set on the bigger goal, not being fixated on just winning but regaining his lost form and picking up valuable race points along the way.

He said, “I have not been performing as I expect of myself and like we expect of our team. We just want to do the job that we feel like we’re capable of doing and try to get to that point and do it consistently. That’s all we’re looking for.”

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