Even following last weekend’s inexcusable error—where his team miscalculated the fuel mileage in his Chevrolet and ran Elliott’s car out of gas 56 laps into the Go Bowling at The Glen—it was the driver who created the massive points deficit by missing seven races due to his own decisions.
Elliott was adamant on Friday that he fully supports his team and leader Alan Gustafson, despite the rash of criticism the squad received following their 32nd-place finish at Watkins Glen.
“We have a lot of trust in one another and the job that that we do,” Elliott said. “I think a lot of him. I think he’s a great dude. He’s a great crew chief and I don’t really care what anybody says about that, because I work with him every week and no one else does.
“So it’s kind of kind of unfair, really, for anybody to feel like they have a good hold on what our team sees and the things we talk about every week and the things that we go to work on together. I’m really proud of that. And you know we’ve been working together for about eight years now. So I’m not worried about him.”
From the moment Elliott started the Cup chapter of his career at Hendrick Motorsports, he has bought into the “process” that starts with preparation for the race all the way through to the checkered flag. That process has enabled the 27-year-old third-generation racer to advance to seven Playoffs, win 18 races and the 2020 championship over the past eight years.
And Elliott sees no reason to change his routine simply because the team is currently 21st in the standings, 101 points below the cutline for the Playoffs and in a must-win situation entering Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
“We have a process every week that we go through, and I have a process that I go through and how I prepare and show up to to each race and I believe in that process,” Elliott said. “I believe in the things that we do when we meet in our office at HMS and in the 9 team room. I have believed in it since day one and all that is because Alan has built a really nice foundation long before I arrived. When I showed up, I filled that spot that was open in the room and went to work with him.
“That’s how we do things, and I believe in the process. So believing in that is a big piece of the puzzle as it pertains to being able to ride these waves when things are going really good or when things are going really bad. That’s a crucial piece of keeping some middle ground.”
Elliott admits he has had moments of doubt this season. Sitting on the couch for seven weeks certainly offers ample time for self-reflection. While breaking his leg in a snowboarding accident was simply that—an accident—taking out Denny Hamlin at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May not only cost him the points he would have accrued the following weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway but the DNF and a subsequent 34th-place finish in the Coca-Cola 600 wasn’t beneficial to his current point status either.
Still, considering that Elliott is 21st in points after missing seven races—while there are 11 drivers behind him in the standings who have completed all 25 events—is still pretty amazing.
“I’d like to be running better, absolutely,” Elliott said. “I think I’m very capable of doing it. I don’t think I’ve lost sight of that.
“A friend of mine said to me this week, ‘Dude, you missed seven races and you were like 40 points from 16th before Michigan.’ So when you look at it like that, it could be a lot worse. The way I see it, I sat on the couch for seven weekends this year and we’ve had a legitimate shot of pointing our way in, which I just never thought was going to be possible and we haven’t been running our best either.
“All those things give me positivity, knowing that the situation is not ideal. I’d like to be doing better, but it’s not all bad. And I think there’s a lot of high spots that we should be proud of throughout the season, and we will be.”
For an organization accustomed to placing at least three if not all four teams in the Playoffs, Hendrick has the challenge of attempting to push either Elliott or his teammate Alex Bowman into the Round of 16. Like Elliott, Bowman was injured earlier this season. He missed three races following a sprint car accident in April.
How diplomatic will Elliott be if it comes down to the two Hendrick Chevrolets on Saturday?
“I don’t want to wreck the guy for the win,” Elliott said. “But honestly, I hope it comes down to the two of us because it means that one of us is going to get in or one of us has a good shot of getting in if it’s he and I racing to the line. I hope that’s the case for the sake of Hendrick Motorsports and Alex and I.
“We typically work really well together at these at these tracks. So ironically enough, we’re in the position where one of us is going to be left short but it’s part of racing and I’m looking forward to it. I know he is, too. We’ve talked about a lot this week, so we’re excited and ready to go to battle.”
Elliott appears to be resigned to whatever the outcome could be on Saturday night. If they’re in the drivers’ or just the owners’ Playoffs, he’ll fight for the title. If they’re out, he and Gustafson will continue to battle for wins and assist the Hendrick teams that are in the postseason while preparing for a comeback in 2024.
“Obviously I’d love to get in,” Elliott said. “Whether it’s driver’s side, the owner’s side, both would be great, but for sure, you know we just want to get better. We want to get better as a team and that’s going to be the goal regardless of what happens (Saturday) night.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
