Chase Elliott eyes NASCAR champs

After to a dismal run of defeats, he’s a legitimate title contender

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Chase Elliott first had to figure out how to stop losing races before he could find his way to victory lane.

It took probably a dozen defeats in NASCAR’s Cup Series before Elliott stepped up on the road course at Watkins Glen to finally close out his first win.

That August victory locked him into the playoffs. And he went on to bookend the second round of the championship chase with victories at Dover and Kansas.

Now Elliott is on to the third round of the playoffs — winner of two of the last three races, and three of the last 11 dating to his Watkins Glen breakthrough — and is perhaps a legitimate title contender.

Once that first victory was out of the way, Elliott switched into another gear knowing he could win at the highest level.

Crew chief Alan Gustafson likened it to a change in mental approach that all athletes face:

Gustafson said, “I don’t feel like his personality has changed, but I think now when he looks at that opportunity, he is looking at it more like ‘Yes, I can do this’ instead of the 100 things that can go wrong.”

And plenty of things went wrong for Elliott after he won the Xfinity Series championship in 2014, when he was 18 and finally eligible to run a full NASCAR season.

Plans were formed in 2015 for his move to the big leagues with Hendrick Motorsports as the replacement for retiring four-time champion Jeff Gordon.

Elliott was in the seat not long after his 20th birthday.

He is the son of Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, NASCAR’s 1988 champion and a record 16-time winner of the most popular driver award.

Chase Elliott entered NASCAR with a built-in fan base that wants him to match the success of his father.

Because he’s with Hendrick, in Gordon’s old ride, the wins should have been immediate, right?

Elliott did win the pole for his Daytona 500 debut, but he finished 37th.

His rookie season netted five finishes of second or third, a 10th-place finish in the standings and no wins.

Year 2 was like a bad repeat.

The pole again at Daytona and nothing to show for that effort.

Even worse?

Five runner-up finishes and almost certain victory snatched away at Martinsville Speedway.

Elliott was leading late in the race at the Virginia track with only a few laps remaining before what would have been both his first victory and an automatic spot in the championship finale.

Elliott was instead wrecked by Denny Hamlin. He didn’t win, didn’t advance to the final four and two weeks later at Phoenix retaliated to ensure Hamlin wouldn’t race for the title either.

Last year’s miss is still emotional for Elliott and his team as NASCAR heads back to Martinsville for the opening race of the third round of the playoffs on Sunday.

Four drivers will race for the title next month in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and Elliott believes he can be one of them.