Throughout the season, tragedy has struck in turns for Chase Elliott. Going into the regular season’s finale in Daytona, the 2020 Cup Series champion gets one last shot at redemption and certainly a chance to overshadow the melancholic season he’s had till now. But the million-dollar question remains unanswered. Does he have a genuine chance to turn it all around?

The talks about his qualification to the playoffs have made rounds for a long time in the NASCAR community. In the latest episode of NASCAR Race Hub, the trio of Adam Alexander, Jamie McMurray, and Larry McReynolds exchange opinions on the same, with one of the opinions going against the qualification of Elliott.

NASCAR analyst feels the intense pressure has got the better of Chase Elliott

At a time when there were merely three races left in the regular schedule, the fandom and experts were quite confident about Chase Elliott making the cut. Indianapolis and Watkins Glen being road courses also meant that the Hendrick Motorsports #9 driver was dealt a good hand. Unfortunately, he couldn’t make his chances count as he faltered closely at the Indy road course, and the massive blunder at The Glen meant he had yet another disappointing finish.

Former NASCAR driver and FOX Sports analyst Jamie McMurray answers the question on everyone’s mind. On being asked if Elliott could make it to the final 16, he highlights that although he has the talent and experience to do it, the situation might be against him.

“Can they? Yes” answers McMurray. “Are they composed to do that right now? I don’t think so. I mean you look at the last few races, when he came back from the penalty, he was top five every week. It seems like as the pressure has built the results have fallen a little bit outside of Indy Road Course.”

An apparent temper tantrum that resulted in the alleged intentional wrecking of Denny Hamlin in Coke 600 implied that Elliott missed another race on top of six races with a fractured tibia early in the season.

“I just feel like the pressure hate to say it, has gotten to him a little bit on the point of execution. They’ve not had clean races and they’re going to have to be perfect if they want to win at Daytona,” adds Jamie.

Co-host Adam Alexander describes one of the glorious storylines that could shake up the NASCAR world as he says, “I said it like a month ago, it’s the perfect scenario. NASCAR’s most popular driver walks off in the regular season finale at Daytona and makes it into playoffs.”

If things indeed turn out as Alexander expects, it would be the perfect redemption for Elliott and Rick Hendrick, who will be hoping to see three of his drivers in the final 16.

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Hendrick Motorsports’ woes at Daytona make things harder for Elliott

With such high stakes at Daytona, Elliott and teammate Alex Bowman have no other option but to deliver a win to point their way in. Bowman being in the bubble battle also makes things harder as he will try his level best just like every other unqualified driver. Being a superspeedway race, even if teamwork becomes a tool to victory at Daytona, the storylines seem to oppose it.

To add to that, HMS cars haven’t performed up to the mark in recent years at the iconic track as well. In the last five years, the team has managed to find only one win, which came in form of William Byron’s win in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 in 2020. Dale Earnhardt Jr and Jimmie Johnson were the last drivers to have consistently good performances at the superspeedway.

As for Elliott, a lot depends on the starting position. Setting the pace on Saturday will be pivotal to the #9 team which has failed to show a similar speed as some of the strongest cars on the grid. One also has to consider the possibility of a blunder like the one that hindered him last week being repeated. The horrendous mistake of fuel miscalculation ruined the race on the final road course race for Elliott, leaving fans fuming at his crew chief Alan Gustafson and wondering what could have been if not for the miscalculation.

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