Jeff Gluck excludes Chase Elliott from 2024 Championship contenders as he predicts the final four

The Athletic's journalist Jeff Gluck has excluded Chase Elliott from his top four contenders for the Cup Series championship title in the 2024 season. Gluck gave his opinion on the subject during a conversation with colleague Jordan Bianchi, also a highly reputed NASCAR journalist.

Chase Elliott pilots the #9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports, competing full-time in the Cup Series. The 2024 season marks Elliott's ninth year competing in NASCAR's top division. In his Cup Series stint, Elliott secured 19 race wins and a Cup Series title in 2020, while securing an All-Star race victory at Bristol Motor Speedway the same year. Moreover, Chase Elliot was also the Xfinity Series champion in 2014.

As the playoffs get closer, Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi made their top four title contender picks for this year. In a recent episode of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Dirty Mo Media podcast, Gluck and Bianchi discussed their options.

"Tyler Reddick, if he doesn't win the regular season Championship right now, he only has eight playoff points. Chase Elliott only has six, but those two guys it's like wow they're running well but playoff points are going to become a factor. Then you go down the list, Christopher Bell is eighth in points but he's got 24 playoff points," Gluck said [47:14]

"I think my fourth though, would be Blaney, over Bell, over Elliott. So mine right now would be Larson, Reddick, Hamlin, and Blaney with four races to go in the regular season," he added. [47:53]

After hearing Gluck's top four contenders, Jordan Bianchi commented on Gluck's fourth choice:

"I can make a case for Blaney or Elliott, you tell me like, I look at round three, and the fact that you've got a Martinville in there. To me, that is a great Ryan Blaney track. We know how strong Team Penske is on these flat ovals," Bianchi said.

Chase Elliot, following a P10 finish at the Indianapolis Oval, came down to P2 in the Cup Series driver standings, while HMS teammate Kyle Larson's victory at the Brickyard 400 pushed him up a spot. Elliot secured a win earlier this year at the Texas Motor Speedway, which secured his spot in the playoffs.

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Chase Elliott unhappy with NASCAR penalty decision at IMS

Chase Elliott served a pass-through penalty on pit road, which directly affected his outcome in the Cup Series race at IMS yesterday. As per NASCAR, the #9 driver violated the blend line rules and regulations while exiting the pit road.

Here's a look at the incident:

Infuriated with NASCAR's decision to sanction the penalty, Elliott expressed his disagreement on the team radio. He said:

"That's not right. I did exactly what the f***ing sheet said to do[...] We do exactly what they f***ing tell us to do. They didn’t say line, they said racing surface."

Elliott's crew chief did not take the punishment lightly either, and immediately passed on a message to NASCAR, asking for an explanation behind their decision.