“The quietest best season of his career”: NASCAR Insider comments on Chase Elliott’s 2024 campaign so far

Renowned NASCAR personality Davey Segal recently spoke on Chase Elliott's 2024 campaign and hailed it as the "quietest best" season of Elliott's NASCAR career. With this, Segal also credited Hendrick Motorsports' strategy and speed that helped Elliott set such a benchmark.

Elliott has been one of the best drivers in NASCAR in recent times and a standout performer for HMS. Besides being renowned for his on-track performances, the #9 driver is also the NASCAR Cup Series' six-time most popular driver.

When Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin, Elliot's closest rivals, have three wins each, the #9 driver has only one. Chase Elliott managed to win the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth this year.

Despite this, the driver of the #9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 is jointly leading the championship alongside his HMS teammate Larson. However, Elliot has a best-average finish of ninth place in 2024, which helped him to stay in contention for the title.

"Chase Elliott, for as popular as he is, the team that he is with, as much eyeballs that he has on him on a week-to-week basis, might be having the quietest best season of his career," said Segal in an interview with Charlotte Sports Live. "I think we could see in a long long time. He has not finished outside of the top 20 this season. Period."

"And I know that may not be a s*xy or flashy stuff, but as you know Carla, that matters. Strategy is sound, the speed is sound, no mistakes on the pit road for the most part from the driver and the race team. Those things are all contributing to this race team and Chase Elliott being in a really, really good spot."

Notably, Elliott also has seven top five's, and nine top ten's this season. He never finished any race below the top 20, and his most recent race finish at New Hampshire was 18th. On top of that, Elliott is yet to have a DNF in 2024!

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Chase Elliott: 'Haven't reached our full potential'

Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series USA Today 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on June 23, 2024. Courtesy: Getty

Chase Elliott had a slump in performance last season, and with his win at Fort Worth, he ended his 42-race winless streak. From there on, Elliott did not look back, as he went on to have back-to-back decent finishes to stay tied in points with Kyle Larson on top.

Despite such a cruising form, Elliott believes that Hendrick Motorsports is yet to reach its full potential. While he hailed his run with the HMS so far, he wanted to be cautious up ahead as NASCAR moves towards the playoff.

Ryan Blaney, the defending NASCAR champion, carried out something similar to what Elliott has suggested. Blaney claimed only one win in the regular season, but when the playoffs arrived, he clinched two wins in quick succession to secure the championship. And one might expect Elliott to follow the same route. Who knows?