Chase Elliott hoping to put May troubles behind him

Although the sophomore sensation has qualified exceptionally well this season and enjoys a remarkable average qualifying effort of 9.7, his last four finishes have resulted in his worst run of 2017.

From Richmond on April 30 to last Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where Elliott completed just 19 laps before he hit a piece of debris and stalled on the front stretch only to have Brad Keselowski slide through oil and plow into the No. 24 Chevy, his average finish during that run was 30.25.

Positive outlook

“You can’t really change it and what’s done is done and a lot of it has just been…I don’t like using the term bad luck, because I think a lot of your luck starts when you leave the race shop,” Elliott said. “But, I guess just misfortune and kind of being at a bad spot at the wrong time. So, I don’t like using the term bad luck, but I guess some of it has been so to speak. I’m not real sure what you call it, but the big thing for us is you got to keep trying to stay high on what you have going on, try to run well.

“If you put yourself in good position long enough I think eventually good things will happen to you. I’m a pretty strong believer in what goes around comes around and I think everything in racing, that is one thing I have learned over my career I think everything in racing comes full circle at some point. I’m a big believer in that. So, I feel like if we keep doing our jobs and keep trying to run well and just keep trying to improve I think it will come around for us and those opportunities will be there again for us to have good finishes.” 

Dover a perfect place for Chase to turn things around

Elliott is thrilled that the Monster Energy Cup tour has rolled into Dover International Speedway where he finished third in both races last season. He was also solid at Dover during his Xfinity Series’ experience with an average finish of 5.2.

“We are happy to see June here and just kind of a shot to try to improve and get some good solid finishes if nothing else or really just finish would be good,” Elliott said. “That is our goal this weekend to try not to have anything stupid happen, finish and hopefully just try to move on down the road and try to get some just solid days, just good experience, execution and just exercise all the parts of the race that you have to do to run well and compete to win.”

Still searching for first win

Prior to Elliott’s rash of misfortunes, he was second in the standings for five-straight races. After 53 Cup starts, he’s still looking for his first-career win.

However, Elliott believes the additional time spent with crew chief Alan Gustafson and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team over the last year has helped him acclimate quicker to the series.

“I feel like we have just kind of settled in at home,” Elliott said. “This time last year was obviously our first go around together in a lot of ways as a group being together, learning race tracks as we go to for the first time in the Cup car and some of the different things that we fought. You know you still fight those things as time goes on, but I just think, I feel like we just all feel more at home. We just all feel more comfortable with what we are doing.

“Maybe that is good, maybe that is bad, I’m not sure. I think if you get too comfortable that can be a bad thing. I think you need to have some discomfort as time goes in what you are doing to try to push yourself to do better, but I just think that year of experience and being with the same group of guys and there are only one or two guys that have changed from last year to this year. I just think our group has just probably come together a little more, I would say in the last year.”