Chase Elliott is the top driver in NASCAR as he’s the defending Cup Series Champion. And with the Cup Series playoffs around the corner, the 25-year-old is on track to win the title again. PopCulture.com recently caught up with Elliott, and he explained how he can win the Cup Series Championship for the second consecutive year.
“We just have to peak at the right time,” Elliott said to PopCulture. “That was really what we did best last year, was we really peaked at the right time and got hot for a stretch of races that was perfect timing. And unfortunately, you can’t always draw that up. That’s not just something that you can just snap your fingers and make happen. It’s a lot of hard work. It’s a lot of effort. And it comes from everyone at our race shop, everyone on the road. Myself, our off-track help. Everything has to just really be clicking at the right time.”
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The playoffs begin next week, and Elliott has clinched a spot. The current NASCAR standings have him placed fourth behind Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson. So far this year, Elliott has won two Cup Series races and has finished second in five races this year, including the Daytona 500. Last year, Elliott won three of the last five races to clinch the title at 24 years old, making him the third-youngest driver to win a Cup Championship.
“Our playoff run is 10 weeks, which is a long time,” Elliott explained. “I mean, you’re talking a couple months’ worth of racing. Just those stretch of races, it’s tough to be at your best to peak for 10 weeks. We just hope we can peak at the right time again. That’s key. And we want to perform when it matters most.”
Elliott has racing in his blood as his father, Bill Elliott, won the Winston Cup Series Championship in 1988. Chase has grown up around NASCAR and has seen many changes to the sport along the way. But the biggest change he’s seen is how fans access news and results, as it’s easier than it was 15 years ago.
“Everything is just so easily accessible and how NASCAR and all these different sports are trying to figure out ways to keep people engaged and what the best way to present their entertainment, their race, their game is on TV,” Elliott stated. “Is it streaming? Is it on an app? How can we keep up with the race? All these things have changed drastically in a very short period of time. I feel like just technology, like anything else, that has driven a lot of change. And NASCAR’s no different.”
