"You’ll probably continue to see that": Chase Elliott hints at NASCAR's future with driver dominance

Chase Elliott gave his opinion on the next generation of drivers and how races have evolved in regard to drivers' dominance. After going without a win for the entire season in 2023, he broke his winless streak earlier this year in April at Texas. An opportunity for him to double his win count this season came recently at Talladega, the racetrack where his last win came in October 2022.

In Sunday's race, the 2020 Cup champion finished in 29th place, ensuring his winless run continues for one more week. Ahead of the playoff race at the superspeedway recently, Chase Elliott addressed his ongoing winless streak.

The #9 driver claimed that he doesn't 'necessarily find it frustrating'. He then pointed to the pattern in the Next Gen era of multiple winners instead of one driver dominating. He elaborated:

"I think a lot of that has come down to just the aero-platform that we have to work with, and just how much defense can be played by the lead car; restarts shaking out, how fast your pit stop is, all those little details throughout the day can put you in a good position at the end of those races. And a lot of guys are good enough to hold on for short stints. We see a lot of green-white-checkered finishes.. all those things are really just recipes for more winners. Races that go green, the cream will eventually rise to the top, and I don’t think you see that quite as much." [8:10]

Elliott claimed that when he does have those short stints with drivers getting chances to get the lead, who don't deserve to have it, it all falls into perspective for him.

"The fact that we have four plate races in a year now.. all these things are just promoting more and more winners, and you’ll probably continue to see that as we go down the road that we’re trucking along on," Elliott added.

Chase Elliott knew a win at Talladega would've been a massive boost for his playoff cause

Despite not having won since Texas, Chase Elliott is well into the playoffs. He started his Round of 12 with a 9th place finish at Kansas and followed it up recently with a 29th place finish at Talladega.

However, Elliott knew before Talladega, that getting a win on the superspeedway would help his cause in this round and the round to come.

“If you’re able to win this weekend, you put yourself in a position to be able to jump stages at the Roval, which massively increases your chance of winning that race, in my opinion,” Elliott said, as per NASCAR.

He claimed that winning at Talladega is 'a little bit of a two-fold' because a driver puts himself in a position to get lucky and score a win while also getting bonus points for the next weekend. But as it turned out, Elliott couldn't get a win on his second home track.

Heading into the ROVAL, he's sitting in 8th place on the playoffs standing table, +13 to the good.