Published 01/27/2023, 12:45 PM EST
Even though his career in the NASCAR Cup Series has been going on for a little over half a decade, Chase Elliott has cemented himself as one of the modern greats in the sport. Yes, he has a championship under his belt, and yes, he is certainly very popular among the fans.
But the fact that he’s a great racecar driver, in a league of his own despite competing against names like Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Larson, simply cannot be ignored.
Just consider his record on road courses.
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Elliott, despite only being 27 years of age, ranks third on the list of all-time wins on road courses with 7 checkered flags to his name. He’s only behind Tony Stewart (8), and Jeff Gordon (9).
And the way things are going, he will certainly surpass those two and create his own mammoth record in this bracket.
However, to do that, he would have to do better than what we saw from him last season.
Chase Elliott opens up on the “bummer” miss of his 2022 season
For Chase Elliott, the 2022 season was a weird one. The Hendrick Motorsports driver finished inside the final four for the third year in a row, but his season wasn’t as memorable as he’d have hoped it to be, certainly by his own standards.
And the fact that he didn’t register a single-road course win in 2022 was also a notable thorn, something he addressed in a recent interview.
“I feel like we had a couple pretty good shots at it,” Elliott described his performances on road courses in 2022. “I mean, the one that stands out most recently is the ROVAL. That was a bummer. I thought we did everything right, the strategy was really good.”
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Elliott on the “crazy” aspect of the past season
Now, despite him not winning on a road course this past season, Chase Elliott shattered a notion associated with him, the one which claimed that he isn’t good on ovals.
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The #9 driver won five races in 2022, and all of them were on ovals, Dover, Atlanta, Nashville, Pocono, and Talladega.
May 2, 2022; Dover, Delaware, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Elliott raises the Miles the Monster trophy in victory lane after winning the DuraMAX Drydene 400 at Dover Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports
This, for the Dawsonville native, was something. At least something worth cracking a joke on.
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“It’s crazy,” Elliott said of his oval performances. “We went from not knowing how to race on ovals to not winning a road course.”