MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Chase Elliott first came to Martinsville Speedway for his Monster Energy Series debut in the spring of 2015 as a fresh-faced 19-year-old driver, ready for his first challenge in NASCAR’s top division. The details were memorable.
Elliott had significant damage — heavy front, minor rear — a loss of power steering and a busted radiator, all before 100 of the 500 laps were on the board. The fifth Hendrick Motorsports entry, numbered 25, spent several laps behind the wall for repairs and limped home to a 38th-place result.
“I’ve been trying to forget about that day, actually,” Elliott said Saturday upon his return to the .526-mile track ahead of Sunday’s First Data 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM), the first race in the postseason’s Round of 8. In the years since, his Martinsville results have been far more memorable for some mixed reasons.
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The inauspicious debut was the first of five premier-series races that year for Elliott. The venues — Martinsville, Richmond, Charlotte, Indianapolis and Darlington — were selected by crew chief Alan Gustafson (among others) for their difficulty and their variety. By that time, Elliott had already been crowned as an Xfinity Series champion, but said he was in no position to dispute the choices.
“I think just because (Gustafson) tried to pick some really tough races or what races he thought I was going to struggle at,” Elliott said. “He guessed pretty good because they were terrible, to be completely honest. I’m glad we did that when we did it, and I didn’t have a whole lot of fun at the time, but I was glad he chose the races that he did.”
Since then, Elliott has steadily clawed into a contender’s role, finishing third here in the spring of 2017 and then challenging for the win last fall before his infamous run-in with Denny Hamlin. In between those, an organizational test last October included tutelage from four-time series champ Jeff Gordon — a nine-time Martinsville winner — offering his wisdom for finding the best way around the finicky Virginia track.
“Jeff came over here with us and I was able to talk with him and actually to be able to have enough time to digest and go through some different things that he felt like I was doing wrong,” Elliott said. “I feel like that helped, had a great performance as far as how our car drove last fall, and then came back this spring and sucked. So I don’t know. Definitely have some work to do still yet, but it’s so hit or miss and this race track is such a rhythm track. You can go an entire weekend and never find your rhythm here, or I have. Really hard for me to, for whatever reason. I think that’s really key.”
The overall rhythm for Elliott and the No. 9 team in the last 11 races has been a winning tempo. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has clicked off his first three career wins, including a triumph last weekend at Kansas Speedway, to add fanfare to his grand entrance into the next round of the NASCAR Playoffs.
It’s also created a spark organization-wide, reviving a longtime celebration custom for the Rick Hendrick-owned team.
“I think for the men and women around campus, I rang the Victory Bell that has been tradition there at HMS this week, and there is a lot of fire there right now,” Elliott said. “If you can create fire you can get some momentum and push from everyone around the campus, I think that is a big deal. I think it matters. Every person that works there has a hand in what goes on whether you want believe that or not — it’s true. If everyone that is coming to work that is ultimately building the car that is sitting here in the garage, if they have some fire and purpose, I think our performance will be better.”