Though followers eagerly anticipate watching Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott deal with the twists and turns of the Mexico highway course, the truth for each stars has diverged sharply. Whereas Busch continues to grapple with an absence of pace, Elliott finds himself battling a wholly totally different beast, declining leads to a self-discipline he as soon as dominated.
Broadly thought to be certainly one of NASCAR’s premier highway course specialists, the driving force of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet as soon as made highway racing his private playground. Throughout 34 begins at venues like COTA, the Charlotte Roval, Watkins Glen, Sonoma, the Indianapolis Street Course, and Daytona’s infield format, Elliott holds a formidable common end of 8.8 with seven profession victories.
However suspiciously, all seven of these wins got here earlier than the introduction of the Subsequent Gen automobile.
That distinction turned obviously obvious when NASCAR Insights just lately posted a stat on X itemizing the 12 totally different highway course winners within the Subsequent Gen period. Elliott’s identify was absent, a shock to many followers.
As per the stats, Tyler Reddick and Kyle Larson have led the cost with three highway course wins apiece within the Subsequent Gen automobile. Christopher Bell and William Byron have every received two, whereas Chris Buescher, AJ Allmendinger, Alex Bowman, Michael McDowell, Ross Chastain, Daniel Suárez, Shane van Gisbergen, and Martin Truex Jr. have all scored one.
Elliott, then again, stands at zero.
For the reason that arrival of the Subsequent Gen automobile, Elliott has run 15 highway course races with out a single win and has completed outdoors the highest 10 in 5 of them. A stark distinction to the 15 such races prior, the place he claimed seven wins, together with a dominant four-race highway course win streak from 2019 by 2020. Throughout that stretch, tracks like Watkins Glen and COTA felt like Elliott’s yard.
