[autotag]Chase Elliott'[/autotag]s winless streak has finally come to an end. Elliott’s drought of 42 winless races vanished at Texas Motor Speedway after claiming the trophy in the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400. The driver of the No. 9 car was forced to hold off the competition on several restarts, and hit the checkered flag as Ross Chastain wrecked behind him.
Following the event, Elliott was asked about the self doubt that creeps in when not winning races. The Hendrick Motorsports driver opened up about the process through his winless streak and why breaking it now was really special.
“Yeah, it’s obviously very tough. I think the longer it goes, the more ways you find to either not run good or lose races, it can make it tougher,” Elliott said. “To me, honestly, this journey and everything about today is really a credit to the guys that sit in our meetings on Monday mornings in the No. 9 room. That starts with [crew chief Alan Gustafson]. As I mentioned a second ago, it’s really easy when things go bad to jump ship, go do something different, for those guys to go elsewhere. It just is. It happens a lot.”
CHASE ELLIOTT WINS AT TEXAS! pic.twitter.com/6Anw83DuN3
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 14, 2024
“It’s been an extremely important thing to me, and fortunately to our entire group, to try to climb this mountain again together and try to get back to where we need to be as a group. We’re not all together, but a lot of us are still there that have been on our team for most of my nine years. That’s pretty special.”
It has been a tough year and a half for Elliott but he can finally breathe. The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion has locked himself into the playoffs and can now focus on earning more points. Elliott will be contedning for more wins in 2024, but the victory in Texas carries far more meaning than most, if not all races this year.
[lawrence-related id=9367]