HAMPTON, Ga. — Chase Elliott as the weakest link?
It’s hard to imagine that being the case for the reigning XFINITY Series champion, but Elliott was upfront with this feeling that will indeed be the case in 2016 when he embarks on his first full-time season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team.
“I know for a fact going to the 24 team next year, I’m going to be by far the weakest link in the chain,” Elliott said during a media availability at Atlanta Motor Speedway during a NASCAR open team test.
“I just really feel like that’s a good group and I feel like if I can step up and do my job, there’s no reason why we can’t give ourselves a chance to compete for a win. I think that would be great but I just have a real long ways to go myself, personally to get to that point right now.”
Elliott was at Atlanta to test the 2016 rules package that will see reduced downforce as a prevalent part of the package. He also tested the package at Michigan International Speedway last week.
In a race he admitted he’d “like to forget” due to a 41st-place finish, Elliott drove with the reduced downforce package over Labor Day weekend at Darlington Raceway. Elliott made five starts this season in the No. 25 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (Martinsville in March, Richmond in April, Charlotte in May, Indianapolis in July and Darlington in September). His best finish was a 16th-place result at Richmond.
“Those five races that we ran this year were not where I wanted to be by any means,” Elliott said. “I didn’t feel like I did a very good job at all to be completely honest with you. I thought I did very, very poorly, personally in the Cup races that we ran this year.
The 19-year-old doesn’t believe he is being hard on himself, just honest.
“I just like to be honest with myself and the situation,” Elliott explained. “When you show up to the racetrack like we have this year, for those Cup races, showing up in really good equipment, there’s no excuse to go and not run better for me. I look at that across the board. I just try to be honest with myself and if I don’t feel like I did the job I need to do, I like to just be upfront with my mind and myself personally first.”
And while he is his toughest critic at times, his dream of becoming a full-time driver in the sport’s top series is moving closer and closer.
Prior to the start of the 2015 season after four-time premier series champion Jeff Gordon had already announced that 2015 would be his final full-time season, Hendrick tapped Elliott to drive the No. 24 Chevrolet starting in 2016.
“I’m really looking forward to next season,” Elliott said. “The more days we spend doing tests like this I think it starts to set in for me that the next time we come to this track will be next year in the 24 car we’ll be racing Sprint Cup, full-time. All those things are things I’ve dreamed of doing for a very long time. …
“I just hope to make the most of a great opportunity that’s in front of me.”