On paper, Chase Elliott comes to Dover International Speedway with all the momentum a driver could want. He won last week at the Charlotte ROVAL, is the defending winner of Sunday’s Drydene 400 at Dover (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), won at next week’s venue, Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in May and is the defending race winner at the following track, Kansas Speedway.
Yet, the humble, always even demeanor Elliott insists he is not necessarily an overwhelming favorite in this Playoff round despite his quite literal, track record.
“Past success doesn’t guarantee a good run here Sunday,’’ Elliott said, allowing a small smile. “If it did, we wouldn’t put any effort in or wouldn’t try, it would just be guaranteed so we wouldn’t come.’’
The second generation star and the sport’s newest “Most Popular Driver” has long adopted the mantra of taking it a “race at a time.” But when you’ve been as good as his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team has been, optimism seems a given.
“It’s just part of racing,’’ he explained, adding, “I think we just have to keep pushing and this round definitely isn’t going to be an easy round. I think it’s going to be tough. I think the caliber of cars left, there are some really strong teams in that 12, so I don’t expect this to be easy and we are certainly going to treat it that way.’’
Elliott, however, has been one of the best at Dover in recent years. He has six Top-5 finishes in seven starts including that Playoff win last year and back-to-back Top-3 finishes in the two Dover races his rookie year. He won the pole position and started fifth at the track this May.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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