Chase Elliott has clarified his feelings on Chevrolet and Hendrick Motorsports’ unwanted streak at Loudon ahead of this weekend’s Round of 12 NASCAR Cup Series playoff race. The manufacturer and Cup Series team haven’t won at New Hampshire since Kasey Kahne won in 2012.
Still fighting in the Cup playoffs, Elliott thought his chances were over following a crash during the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. He could be the man to end Chevrolet and Hendrick Motorsports’ unwanted streak in New Hampshire. However, he’ll have to show a considerable uptake in form after the 29-year-old finished 17th at Darlington, the first playoff race of 2025, followed by third in Illinois, and 38th at Bristol.
His poor form has him sitting just five points above the cutline, with Bubba Wallace just below, followed by Austin Cindric, defending champion Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, and Tyler Reddick in the drop zone. Still, Elliott says Chevrolet and Hendrick Motorsports have nothing to lose heading into the Round of 12’s three playoff races.
“I just feel like, yeah, you’re kind of in a spot where, ‘Man, we really didn’t deserve to be here based on the week before, let’s go and make the very most of it,'” he said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “I just feel like there’s nothing to lose for us at this point.
“We’ve got to make something happen, get some life and get our heads down and just grind it out these next three weeks. It’s kind of been one of those years in general, just trying, some of those days taking what was there.
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“I was really encouraged by our Gateway, to be frank, and I thought there was a lot of really good stuff that went on there throughout the course of the event.
“I think New Hampshire has some similarities to Gateway, so I’m looking forward to see how we stack up in that regard.”
After crashing out of the Bristol race, Elliott could’ve been dumped out of the playoffs by teammate Alex Bowman had he taken the chequered flag. “At that time, I thought our night, I thought our season was over, to be honest,” Elliott said.
“I didn’t have a good grasp on where some of the other competitors below the cutline were running. Had a brief conversation with (crew chief) Alan (Gustafson) right when I got out of the car.
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“I was like, ‘Man is that going to knock us out?’ He said, ‘Yeah, I think so.’ At that point, obviously, we’re just bummed. It took some time to kind of realize the situation and what it was going to take to knock us out. I got to watch it on TV with everybody else.
“It wasn’t the most pleasant hour and a half or so of my life watching, but it worked out, fortunately. Got really lucky with that, no question.”