NASCAR’s most popular driver is looking for a popular victory in Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway (2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Though Chase Elliott’s triumph at Texas in April is his lone win of the season so far, the driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet enters the Round of 8 elimination race exuding confidence, despite sitting eighth in the standings in a win-or-bust frame of mind.
For one thing, Elliott’s cars have shown excellent speed the past two weekends at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway.
For another, Elliott has been in this position before. In 2020, he won at Martinsville to secure his bid for the Championship 4 and a week later claimed the series title with a victory at Phoenix Raceway.
“I just feel good about where we’re at,” Elliott said before Saturday’s practice at the 0.526-mile track. “I think we’ve run really well the last two weeks. I thought our team was operating at an extremely high level last weekend across the boards, so it’s a great time to be doing that.
“I think we’re all in a really good place. I’m in a good place with everything. And, yeah, just proud of how we’ve been running. We’ve been right in the thick of it; right in the mix. When you’re giving yourselves those opportunities, why wouldn’t you be confident in coming to a place that we’ve been able to run well before?
“Even more so, leaving two places that we have not run well at, historically, and came off with two good weekends. So, yeah, I’m really looking forward to it; try to get going and get to work.”
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