Chase Elliott scored his first win of the season last week at Dover Motor Speedway, effectively putting to rest any concerns that he or his team were struggling this year.
Elliott, however, was never worried.
“I feel like we’ve been solid at times,” he said, “and had a lot of pace. We just hadn’t been able to put an entire race together until last Sunday. We just have to do more of that and try to be better, better execute the entirety of an event. I think as long as we’re doing those things, I think we can run and compete with the best of the garage. I feel confident in that; just as confident in that today as I did three weeks ago.”
And though it may have seemed that he was not performing as well as expected, Elliott has led the driver standings since his sixth-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the fifth race of the Cup Series season.
He’s in good company as Chevrolet teams have won seven of the races this year while Fords and Toyotas have only two wins each.
“I think it’s like what my dad has always said over the years and has tried to teach me; it’s a rollercoaster and it’s going to continue to evolve. There is going to be a time where that’s not the case. I’m a Chevy guy and I want that to always be the case. But that’s just not how it works.
“You’re going to go through periods where you’re going to struggle and you’re going to have to go back to work and get better. I think 2016, ’17, ’18 – I guess more ’17 and ’18 – we were certainly behind and needed to be better. We tried to come together as a manufacturer and, fortunately, we were able to do that. I think Chevrolet should take a lot of pride in that, and the teams within that banner should take a lot of pride in that, too.
“I can’t say that anything just miraculously changed overnight. I think it’s just the way this deal works. You’re going to go through those periods and you have to ride that wave while it’s good in a positive manner, just like you do when it’s bad. And just accept that’s the way it’s going to be sometimes. That can be a hard thing to accept in certain periods, but I am a believer that I think that’s just how this works and I don’t ever see that really changing.”
Looking ahead to Sunday’s Goodyear 400, Elliott is unsure what to expect with inconsistent results the last couple of years. In 2020, he had finishes of fourth (May 17), 38th (May 20) and 20th in September. Last year he finished seventh in May and 31st in September.
“I feel like we’ve been really sporadic here for whatever reason,” he said. “Hopefully, this week is better.”
