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Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott is currently having one of the best years of his career, and this weekend he will be lining up for his 23rd race of the season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Last weekend at Pocono Raceway, he carried an unexpected win after his third-place finish switched to victory after a few hours due to the winner and runner-up being disqualified.
The 2020 Cup Series champion has been described as a road course master due to his outstanding performances on these tracks. Though he’s the only driver with the most wins this season, Chase Elliott has not been able to clinch a win on any of the three road course tracks that NASCAR has previously visited this year. The best he has placed on a road course this season is a runner-up finish at Road America.
Despite being one of the best racers when it comes to road courses, Indianapolis is, unfortunately, one of his worst road courses. In a recent interview, Chase Elliott stated that the Indy track is one of his worst tracks because, in his first experience at the track, he didn’t feel like he got hold of the track.
Though he has admitted that it is not one of his favorites, it doesn’t mean that he has lost hope of winning a race there. Instead, he decided to do some homework before hitting the track. Speaking to the media, Elliott said:
“I feel like that’s probably been one of my worst road courses, personally. Never really felt like I got a hold of the track last year. I ended up kind of by happenstance running the Xfinity Series race last year as a sub in.”
He added:
“It was unfortunate circumstances there, but I was grateful to have run that race because I was really bad on the Cup side until I got some extra reps, so I think that was helpful. So going back, I need to do some homework this week on how to be better up there”
However, his crew chief Alan Gustafson feels that they have a chance to carry the day since the track is super flat with no elevation and has a big break zone. Chase Elliott has only raced there once, though. Last year, he filled in for an Xfinity racer while also competing in a Cup event. Despite having a bad day at last year’s event, he still managed to clinch a top-five finish, finishing fourth.
Chase Elliott's performances in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season
This year being one of the best seasons of his career, Elliott might script a new history at the Indy track, aiming to clinch his fifth win of the season. The past five races have been a game changer for the driver, where he has scored five consecutive top-two finishes. It seems like he did his assignment after NASCAR went for the weekend off after completing the first phase of the 2022 regular season.
After returning from the break, the worst Elliott has recorded is a second-place finish. While he finished P3 last weekend, NASCAR disqualified the winner and runner-up, leaving him as the official winner.
It will be interesting to see if Chase Elliott can make pleasant memories at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend.
