“Certainly room for improvement”: Chase Elliott previews upcoming NASCAR race at Martinsville

Chase Elliott shared his thoughts on the Martinsville Speedway race on Sunday. While Elliott had strong finishes in previous outings at the short track, the 29-year-old thought the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro could still be improved.

Chase Elliott arrived at Martinsville Speedway with two top-5 finishes around the 0.526-mile track last year. The Dawsonville, Georgia native finished third in the spring race before crossing the line second in NASCAR's return in the fall.

In addition, the Hendrick Motorsports driver started the 2025 season with a short-track win in the Cook Out Clash, a non-points-paying race held at Bowman Gray Stadium.

Per Frontstretch on X (formerly Twitter), Elliott believes the No. 9 crew can carry the momentum into Sunday's race despite the team seeing room for improvement.

"I thought we were really good here in the fall until I knocked the nose off it, and that really hurt it. That was on me and just felt like our car did a lot of really good things," Elliott said. [1:17 onwards]

"Does that mean it's going to do all those same good things this weekend? Not necessarily. But I do think we took a good effort in the fall and translated some of that knowledge to Bowman Gray, which was good," he added.

Elliott, who only had a best finish of 10th place in the last three races, looked forward to the short track action this weekend, saying:

"Certainly room for improvement but I'm looking forward to it just to kind of see how it goes. This place is kind of different from everywhere else."

The Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway is the first short track race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. FS1 will broadcast the 400-lap race on March 30 at 3:00 p.m. ET.

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Chase Elliott drops honest verdict on short track racing in Next-Gen car era

While several NASCAR drivers aren't fond of short-track racing in the Next-Gen car, Chase Elliott believes the league has improved the racing product. He commended the tire compound used at Martinsville Speedway, saying NASCAR is "onto something" with it.

Speaking about the evolution of short tracks, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion said (via Speedwaydigest.com):

"It seems like it's better, for sure, and it seems like it's largely in part to the tire, truthfully. The more I kind of look at it, the more I kind of just feel like, man, maybe this tire thing is really… we're onto something there."

The Dawsonville native added:

"I do think the tire thing, seemingly from the gains that we've made, is pretty important considering it's what touches the ground."

Chase Elliott driving the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro at Martinsville Speedway last year - Source: Imagn

Elliott enters the Martinsville Speedway race weekend ranking sixth in the points standings behind his three Hendrick Motorsports teammates (William Byron, Kyle Larson, and Alex Bowman). He has amassed one top-5 and three top-10s, including a season-high fourth place at Circuit of the Americas.