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Chase Elliott has taken two routed flags home in Talladega in his career – this last weekend he just came up short.
However, he has had a great success there. In fact, in his very first race he finished in fifth place, and in 18 races since he has eight top-10 finishes on the Alabama racing track.
“I look forward to going down there. Talladega has always been a bit of a home run. It’s just really close to where we live, so it’s always super nice,” Elliott, Dawsonville, Georgia, native in a recent conversation with Pakinomist Digital. “A race you can easily run to, the fans have always been really good for me over there, which makes it fun and kind of feels like at home.”
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Chase Elliott looks at under driver introductions before NASCAR DAYONA 500 AUTO RACE at Daytona International Speedway Sunday 19 February 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)
Talladega is one of the leading Nascar spots, understandably.
“The madness and chaos that are infield are extremely well -known with certainty, just the party and the destination it is,” Elliott said. “I don’t really think people are necessarily interested in whether the race is good or bad – I think people are just more there for the environment.”
“Many people don’t care what the race is, but I think people go after the experience many times and stay around for hopefully a good race on Sunday. And fortunately it’s really not been a problem on Talladega. Many times the race delivers on Sunday and everyone gets into an entertaining weekend with their friends and a cherry on top is a great finish Sunday. It’s a good place to get a little.”
A fifth place is hardly anything to ignore-it was his third top-five this season and he also has six top-10s.
Chase Elliott greets fans during driver introductions before Nascar Daytona 500 Auto Race at Daytona International Speedway on February 19, 2023 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Terry Renna, File)
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However, he also has two 15 seats and a 20th place on the record this year and is still without victory this year. So despite being in fourth place in the Cup series right now, Elliott thinks his season has been just “ok.”
“There have been some tall spots, good finishes on weeks that we didn’t deserve them, and bad finishes on weeks where we probably deserved to have better. There have been flat bad weeks and flat out good weeks. Unfortunately, not good enough to win, but there have been a few scenarios where we were in the mix,” Elliott said.
“We have been everywhere, certainly not the consistency level I would like to see. But a lot of room for improvement. The first stretch was a warm -up, and now we go all the way to the championship in November. A lot of running ahead, a lot of time to gather it or not. It depends on how we perform for the next few months.”
Elliott won the Cup Series title, Hans Lone Championship, in 2020 – his best finish since then is fourth, which he had both in 2021 and 2022, before following up with a 17th place in 2023 and then the seventh last year.
Of course it is not easy to get out on top every year, but to do so, “we have to find some consistency.”
Chase Elliott, driver of No. 9 Napa Auto Parts Chevrolet, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the Nascar Cup series Ally 400 on Nashville SuperSpeedway on June 26, 2022 in Lebanon, Tennessee. (Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
“We had a legitimate shot to win the race in Martinsville, go to Bristol and much not in the mix,” Elliott said (he ended up in the fourth and 15. In these races respectively). “Just trying to be more consistent everywhere and have that type of performance when we are able to win more often and do it on different racing types and sizes and venues and just get the momentum in the right direction. It’s been a bit stained, so we made it go here. I think we can just keep truck.”
