Denny Hamlin claims ‘upper-echelon’ driver Chase Elliott might not win a race in 2023
Chase Eliott has just nine races left in the season to secure a NASCAR Cup race.
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Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott (Via IMAGO)
The 2023 season has been a nightmare for Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott. The 2020 Cup champion failed to make it into the playoffs for the first time in his Cup career, and he hasn’t won a single race this season despite coming close to one more than once. His teammates Kyle Larson (3) and William Byron (5) have secured a combined eight wins this year.
Elliott found himself in this situation after missing out on seven races at the start of the year due to a snowboarding accident that saw him fracture his tibia. He was sidelined for six races and missed an additional one after getting suspended by NASCAR for deliberately wrecking Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin.
Hamlin, via his Action Detrimental podcast, pointed out that the possibility of Elliott winning the race in 2023, with just nine more races remaining, is slim. Hamlin isn’t ready to completely rule out the possibility as he is an elite driver sporting for an elite team. He backed his no-win argument by highlighting the mistake-prone races Elliott has been having since his return from the injury.
“I think he’s going to be very close, but no. I say that cautiously because he still drives for Hendrick Motorsports. He’s still Chase Elliott. Like, he’s still an upper-echelon, elite driver. So, it just seems like they’ve, they just got off track a little bit, and a lot of it is, you know, he was out for a while,” Hamlin said, as reported by Pro Talks.
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Denny Hamlin said the No.9 team lacks rhythm and names ROVAL as Chase Elliott’s shot at a win
Hamlin went on to point out that missing a significant of races with their main driver might have cost the Championship winning the No:9 team rhythm. He added that Elliott has been making progress with his-average finishes.
“It takes a while to get in your rhythm. The No. 11 team, me, Denny Hamlin. It takes me a long time…The average finish has always been there. For a while this season, he’s had the best-average finish. He still finds a way to grind to great finishes, but I’m seeing him run better now. Like, his average running position during the race for the No. 9 car is better,” Hamlin said.
This makes him a bit cautious about the no-wins claim. He pin-points that the ROVAL race is the only chance the No:9 team can make it to the victory lane. Hamlin said, “So, I’m going to say cautiously no, but the Roval. If there’s a chance, the Roval is it for Chase. I just think that I’ve seen him drive from the back to the front at the race track before with a car that ran into the tire barrier. So, I wouldn’t count him out, for sure.”
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Justin P Joy
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