“Just wishing him a merry off-season and a happy Christmas.”
It was one of the most memorable phrases expressed in recent NASCAR history, produced by Chase Elliott following Kevin Harvick‘s playoff elimination in 2021.
Two years later, Elliott might be taking his own advice.
Elliott entered 2023 on a string of three consecutive Championship 4 appearances in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs with his first Cup title in 2020, a regular season crown in 2022 and a series-leading five wins in 2022.
Read all of Frontstretch‘s content looking back on 2023 here
A runner-up result at Auto Club Speedway in the second race of 2023 appeared to Elliott continuing on the right path in the road to Phoenix Raceway and the championship.
That is, until snowboarding came into play.
Just two days before the tour was set to race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, news broke that Elliott had suffered a snowboarding accident in Colorado, requiring him to immediately go in for surgery to repair a fractured tibia.
The result? A six-race hiatus that put the Hendrick Motorsports driver in a near-desperate situation right off the bat in terms of making the playoffs.
Reactions over the following weeks questioned the permissions of extracurricular activities for drivers and if the five-time (now six-time) Most Popular Driver’s absence was the reason for declined ratings. But most of all, would Elliott really miss the playoffs?
Surely a driver who hadn’t gone winless since 2017 wouldn’t be shut out. The No. 9 driver would come back with over half the amount of regular-season races remaining and win, and all would be fine and dandy again, right? And even in the long shot scenario that Elliott wouldn’t win, he had plenty of time to point his way in.
In a year full of unprecedented circumstances, Elliott’s problems were only beginning.
When the 28-year-old returned at Martinsville Speedway in the spring, he sat 134 points behind the playoff cut line. However, the first few races of his return opened a clear path to overcome that gap, if a win didn’t come first.
A 10th-place result at Martinsville was followed by solid 12th-, 11th- and seventh-place runs, capped off with a third-place showing at Darlington Raceway. Within five races, Elliott had sliced his points deficit to 63 points.
Then Charlotte Motor Speedway happened.
While the Coca-Cola 600 was one of the most entertaining races of the year, it was arguably the most forgettable for the Hendrick star.
Midway through the event, Elliott was battling Denny Hamlin when the latter driver slid up in turn 4. Hamlin’s slip caused him to squeeze Elliott into the wall. A frustrated Elliott immediately hung a left, turning Hamlin into the outside wall on the frontstretch in a ferocious crash.
Hamlin posted on X, formerly Twitter that day to share SMT data that supported his belief that the retaliation was intentional.
Ultimately, NASCAR agreed and Elliott was suspended for the race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, his seventh missed race of the season. It would prove to be a crucial blow to his playoff hopes.
After returning at Sonoma Raceway, Elliott earned four top fives, five top 10s and eight top-15 finishes over the next nine races to propel him to 19th in points with three regular season races remaining. However, the suspension proved to be too much to overcome. Additionally, a blown tire at Michigan International Speedway toward the end of that run only heaped on the baggage.
As the series headed to Watkins Glen International, a late surge to the playoffs was very realistic for the No. 9 team, especially considering Elliott had won back-to-back races at the track in 2018 and 2019. But sitting 80 points behind the cut line with just two races remaining, Elliott needed strong runs and a lot of help if he was to point himself in.
Unfortunately, Elliott did not qualify well at Watkins Glen, immediately forcing him to play catch up. It took a fatal blow mid-race when crew chief Alan Gustafson miscalculated his fuel window, resulting in Elliott running out of the gas entering the bus stop. That relegated him to a 32nd-place result.
Despite a valiant effort in the regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway, including lining up in row two on the final restart, a run never materialized, and what seemed to be a delusional fantasy turned out to be reality when Elliott missed the playoffs for the first time in his career.
It was certainly a tough pill to swallow for the whole group, especially considering that HMS teammates William Byron and Kyle Larson had 10 combined wins along with qualifying for the Championship 4.
If there were any positives, the Dawsonville, Ga., native did qualify for the owner’s playoffs by virtue of other drivers assisting him in earning points for the No. 9. He also opened the playoffs with six consecutive finishes of 11th or better, and he led a season-high 83 laps at Martinsville Speedway.
The stark reality is, however, Elliott didn’t have many races where he showed race-winning speed, and he suffered career lows in nearly every category despite the leg injury.
As UCLA men’s basketball coach John Wooden once said, “The two hardest things to handle in life are failure and success.”
That couldn’t be more true for Elliott, whose presence and success have proven to be key in the forward growth of the sport.
There were positives that the team could build off in 2024. And the realities still exist that Elliott is a Cup champion and Hendrick Motorsports is still one of the best in the garage.
How he responds to the adversity of 2023 could dictate much moving forward.
About the author
Luken Glover joined the Frontstretch team in 2020 as a contributor, furthering a love for racing that traces back to his earliest memories. Glover inherited his passion for racing from his grandfather, who used to help former NASCAR team owner Junie Donlavey in his Richmond, Va. garage. A 2023 graduate from the University of the Cumberlands, Glover is the author of "The Underdog House," contributes to commentary pieces, and does occasional at-track reporting. Additionally, Glover enjoys working in ministry, coaching basketball, playing sports, and karting.
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Interestingly, I just read through the cars currently entered for the coming Chili Bowl. Among them was the 55 owned by Alex Bowman, & driven by CJ Leary. But nothing listed as being driven by Bowman as yet. Chase hasn’t run there since Larson quit so I wasn’t expecting him.
The close wheel to wheel racing leads to numerous accidents & tip overs, but injuries are extremely rare.
I’ll keep watching & hope to see Alex compete.
Josh Bilicki, & Carson Hocevar are both listed.
Chase is rehabbing his shoulder following surgery so I doubt he will be ding anything in the offseason.
[tinfoilhat]
We can’t have this happen again! Surely NA$CAR will announce another change to the “playoff” system to ensure Chase (or whoever the cash cow is at the time) ALWAYS makes the “post season”.
[/tinfoilhat]