Though his Watkins Glen triumph was thrilling, it was just the beginning of a process that needs to continue for Chase Elliott, his team and his manufacturer.
If you wanted to write a script for a tonic that would soothe any anxieties about anything going on with NASCAR (prior to its CEO getting arrested later that night, of course), you’d be hard pressed to come up with one better than what just happened at Watkins Glen. Not only did Chase Elliott get his first NASCAR Cup Series win, he did it on a day when his Hall of Fame dad was helping to spot for him, in a road course race just like Awesome Bill from Dawsonville did for his first victory back in the day.
It was a triumph that required no asterisks either. Elliott had some good fortune when Kyle Busch had technical issues that put him in the rear of the field in the final stage when the 18 was probably the fastest car. Still, Elliott was able to pass Busch under green and pull away from him in the middle of the race, and he outran Martin Truex Jr. when it counted, which is no easy task, especially at The Glen.
In terms of popularity and timing, Elliott and his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team couldn’t have asked for anything more. Neither could Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet, both in the middle of forgettable seasons until this Sunday. So everything is cool now, right?
Not quite.
Even Elliott, still basking in the glow of his big day, seemed to realize that during his post-race media session, when he was asked about the next Cup Series race at Michigan. He’s done phenomenally well there so far in his career, finishing ninth or better in all five of his starts at the top level of NASCAR.
However, if he and his team don’t look like they have speed at one of the fastest tracks on the schedule, it will be a disappointment after the way they’ve run these past few weeks.
“I think that’ll be kind of a testament to really see where we stack up and where our gains have got us because that racetrack is — you really — the driver certainly is a big deal everywhere, but you’ve got to have your stuff driving good to be good at Michigan,” Elliott said at Watkins Glen. “I think we’ve gotten better, so I hope that we’re improved, and we’ll see where we stack up.”
The facts still are what they are. Elliott is now locked into the playoffs, but it will take at least one more win to convince anyone he can turn the Big 3 into the Big 4. His Hendrick Motorsports teammates can take some pride in his victory, but Jimmie Johnson and Alex Bowman are on the bubble of the postseason field, and William Byron is on the outside looking in (and if he manages to win, it may quite possibly spell doom for one of the other Hendrick drivers).
Chevrolet drivers are still 0-for-2018 in non-road course, non-restrictor plate races. Unless the 9 team really has discovered something about the Camaro ZL1 that no one else has figured out and decides to share what that is, there’s no reason to suddenly expect a Chevy procession to Victory Lane.
Elliott is for real, and it would not be a shock now to see him win again before the season is over. He’s confident that his group has improved to the point where they can run with anyone, and he should be.
“Well, I think anything’s possible in general,” Elliott said. “I feel like the past few weeks — have we had the actual pace of the 4 and the 18? No, probably not. But have we been a hell of a lot better than what we were at the beginning of the year? Yes. And have we been a legitimate top-5 car? I would say so. So that’s a big improvement from what we’ve been. You don’t just go from running 12th to 15th to winning these races overnight consistently.
“It takes time, and you have to make those steps and those strides to get better, and I think we’re hopefully going the right direction.”
That only applies to Elliott himself for now, though. It’s going to take more wins for Hendrick Motorsports, and more victories for other Chevrolet teams in general, to prove that the malaise that afflicted them for more than half a season is starting to lift for rel.