NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver, Chase Elliott, was mere feet away from securing a victory in the DAYTONA 500 last Sunday at Daytona International Speedway, when Tyler Reddick got a substantial push from his 23XI Racing teammate, Riley Herbst, to take the lead exiting Turn 4.
What would likely have been one of the biggest NASCAR Cup Series wins in recent memory turned into a fourth-place finish for the Dawsonville, Georgia-native, as Elliott was involved in a vicious crash at the start-finish line that totaled his No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
“Yeah, definitely just a huge, huge bummer, for sure,” Elliott said about the DAYTONA 500. “You know, obviously, the crashing like that’s never fun… don’t get me wrong. But, it’s more processing the how close we were as a team to win it. That can be a challenging thing, I guess. Both fortunately and unfortunately, throughout my career, I have experienced other losses like that… maybe not at Daytona, but you know, certainly close calls.”
Instead, the former NASCAR Cup Series champion will have to wait until February 2027 for another shot at winning “The Great American Race”, the prestigious event that has denied him the opportunity to hoist the Harley J. Earl trophy in all 11 of his previous attempts at the season-opener.
“I think you do this stuff long enough and you just understand that it’s never over until it’s over,” Elliott continued. “You know, hindsight’s always 20/20. You look back at the end of that race and run through things that you could have done differently, and certainly wish I had, right? But, you know, when you’re in those moments, you get faced with decision-making time, and it happens really quick. And unfortunately, it didn’t work out in our favor.
However, Speedweeks is finished now, and it’s time for Elliott and the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports team to get into the grind of the 26-race regular-season with a trip to EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, a home track for the 30-year-old, and a 1.54-mile superspeedway where he is the defending winner.
“You know, I say it all the time, but I enjoy coming down here. I’m glad we have two races,” Elliott said about Atlanta. “I think just the vibe is really good. I think a lot of energy is back with the track since they did the reconfiguration. And you know, just talking to a lot of people from around the area, I think they really enjoy coming down here now and camping out and having a lot of fun, especially for the night race. ”
In his seven career starts at the newly reconfigured EchoPark Speedway (formerly known as Atlanta Motor Speedway), Elliott has never finished outside the top-20, and has been to Victory Lane twice with three top-10 finishes.
“I know it’s going to be a little cooler than we’d like tomorrow, but still, I think it’ll be a good race,” Elliott added. “And yeah, for me, it’s nice to have the option to go home. Still have to deal with the Atlanta traffic, but that’s okay. It’s worth it. I always enjoy being here, and hopefully, it’s a good weekend for us.”
It doesn’t matter which racetrack the NASCAR Cup Series is at, though, because Elliott believes the No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet and all of Hendrick Motorsports, for that matter, are capable of going to Victory Lane on any given weekend.
“Yeah, I feel good. I mean, like I said a lot going into last week, it’s large in part for just being at HMS and the boss’s commitment to wanting to win, right? That leadership trickles down all the way throughout the entire company. From my perspective, and any race car driver, you know, no different than when I drove through the tunnel last week, I felt like we had a shot to win. I felt the same way, you know, driving through the tunnel here today. So, I’m always grateful for that.”
With some hometown action happening in Sunday’s AutoTrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway (3:30 PM ET on FOX, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90), Elliott will look to continue a solid start to the year and chase another hometown victory around the tricky superspeedway.
