“I Lost Confidence”

via Imago

Chase Elliott, Dale Earnhardt Jr. I Image Credits: Imago

A Cup Series champion, a master behind the wheel, and a fan favorite, Chase Elliott has done it all in NASCAR while also being one of the younger drivers on the grid. However, if there is one thing he would want to forget, it is how the 2023 season has panned out for him so far.

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The 27-year-old has failed to win a single race and is quite a ways away from securing his place in the playoffs with only four races to go in the regular season.

People still have confidence in Chase as he has proven in the past that he has what it takes to be one of the best drivers in the grid. One of those people was Dale Earnhardt Jr. While the former NASCAR star still believes Chase has a chance to make it through to the last 16, his confidence is waning.

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On a recent episode of The Dale Jr. Download podcast, Dale Jr sat down with his co-host Mike Davis to discuss Chase’s season and what he has to do to make it through to the playoffs. He spoke about how until five weeks ago, he believed Chase would somehow find a way to make it to the playoffs, but his confidence in him has dropped for this season.

Elliott will go into Michigan 40 points behind the playoff places which do seem like a steep hill to climb.

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Junior said, “Chase Elliott. -56 going into Richmond is now -40. He gained 16 points. Basically having an average day. And I heard Denny Hamlin on his podcast say that ‘mark my words, Chase Elliott is going to point his way into the playoffs.’ I was on that wagon but then he, about five weeks ago, but in the last two or three weeks where Chase basically would gain four points here, lose five points, gain four points, he really stayed flat for the last several weeks.”

“This is the first time he made a big game in a couple of weeks. I lost confidence in Chase being able to point his way in, and I was really thinking, at -56 going into Richmond, he needed to win.”

“Well, -40 is doable but he’s gonna need to have those, you know, +15, +20 games almost every week. And he’s not racing just one person, he’s not racing just the cut line. He’s racing all these different drivers and they’re going to also have varying results that are going to make that complicated for Chase. Chase is good enough, the team’s good enough to get 40 points back and point their way in but I just don’t, it’s gonna have to go just right,” he added.

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Dale Jr might say that he believes Chase has the ability to just make his way into the last 16, but NASCAR’s points system even has one of its most popular drivers confused. Junior mentioned that it used to be easier to ascertain who had the best chance of going through to the playoffs when the points only depended on the finishing order. With the commencement of stage points, it is difficult to make sense of the math.

Dale Jr said, “I still don’t know how to make sense of the math. When I look at a race, you know it used to just be finishing order. Now that we have the stage points, it’s really hard to tell. How much of a deficit is -40 points?”

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Perhaps the system is so confusing that even drivers who are yet to qualify, like Chase, are having trouble grasping it. The best way to secure qualification is to win a race and that is something the 27-year-old has done plenty in his career. It won’t be easy with the likes of Bubba Wallace slowly finding their groove, but one can be certain that a driver will like Chase will fight till the end.

Watch This Story: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Delivers Bad News to Chase Elliott With Playoff Verdict

Nilavro Ghosh

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Edited By: Ranvijay Singh

It Has to ‘Go Just Right’ for Chase Elliott to Make the PlayoffsWatch This Story: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Delivers Bad News to Chase Elliott With Playoff Verdict

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