Chase Elliott has one final chance to make it to the NASCAR Championship Four this weekend at Martinsville
The No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports driver secured his place in the NASCAR Playoffs in 2024 with victory at Texas Motor Speedway back in April. Thus far, it is his only win of the season.
The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion failed to make the playoffs last season after missing six races across the season – five through injury and he was suspended from the race at Gateway. In 2024, heading into Martinsville, Elliott is hoping to secure his fourth appearance in the Championship Race at Phoenix in five seasons.
But the 28-year-old faces a huge uphill battle as he sits eighth in the standings, 43 points below the cut-off point held by William Byron in second. Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick’s victory at Las Vegas and Homestead-Miami respectively means there are just two spots left alongside the duo for the race for the championship at Phoenix.
Chase Elliott will be ‘tired of hearing’ everyone being aggressive when he will ‘show you’ according to Kevin Harvick
Elliott has had a fairly consistent 2024 campaign thus far, only suffering two retirements and finishing in the top 10 17 times and the top five 10 times.
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In the playoffs, the 28-year-old has scored a best finish of second at Bristol to advance into the Round of 12. Last time out at Homestead-Miami, Elliott came home fifth to give him a fighting chance of progressing into the final four.
Speaking on his Happy Hour Podcast, Kevin Harvick picked Elliott as the driver in the bottom four with the best shot of getting above the cut-off line at Martinsville, and he believes that the No. 9 driver will be ‘tired of hearing’ his rivals being aggressive and will do it himself on the track
“If had to pick, I’m going to pick the No. 9. And here’s why,” said Harvick.
“I mean, the speed that they have had, they’ve shown a couple flashes of speed and leading laps, and you talk about that aggression that he had. I think he’s getting tired of hearing about it. I truly do.
“I truly think that Chase Elliott is getting tired of hearing about everybody else being aggressive and I think he’s just finally getting to that point where it’s like: ‘I’m going to show you, and I’m going to push people around, I’m going to do what I have to do.’ And he’s gone to Martinsville and had that speed and had that ability to dominate a race.
“I think he’s getting tired of hearing about Kyle Larson and everybody else around him and just knowing that next-gen mentality that you have to have with that over-aggressive attitude… I don’t know.
“I feel like after watching Homestead that he has that ability.”
Martinsville is a must-win for Chase Elliott if he is to advance to the Championship Four
In the past, Elliott has proven his speed and ability around Martinsville, having won there in the playoffs on his way to the 2020 Cup Series title.
In the regular season, the No. 9 driver has finished in the top 10 at every race at the track since 2017, finishing third this year behind Kyle Larson and the winner William Byron.
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Martinsville is a strong course for Elliott and he will be looking to use that to his advantage and take the fight to his rivals to secure his spot in the Championship Race.
43 points may be too big of a margin to make up with just one race left in the Round of 8, so Elliott will need to replicate his 2020 success and go all out for the win, or it could be the end of the Hendrick Motorsports driver’s season this weekend.