WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — With his opportunities to make the playoffs dwindling, Chase Elliott will have to do something not done in the past nine Cup road course races.
Win from a starting spot outside the top 10.
Elliott will start 15th in Sunday’s race (3 p.m. ET on USA Network) after a qualifying effort he said was his fault, not that of his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
“Hopefully, I can figure out how to drive the vehicle faster,” Elliott said Saturday.
MORE: Details for Sunday’s Cup race at Watkins Glen
Two of his teammates start in the top five. William Byron qualified second. Kyle Larson qualified fifth. Teammate Alex Bowman, who also is outside a playoff spot, will start 18th.
Elliott has made the playoffs each of his previous seven Cup seasons. The 2020 series champion has never finished worse than 10th in points in Cup. He finished second last weekend at Indianapolis to Michael McDowell, who secured a playoff spot with that victory.
“We’ve been doing this for a long time,” Elliott said. “We’ve ridden the roller-coaster for a few years now. So this is not uncharted territory, being in a bad position and having to go and do well. We’ve failed before. You learn lessons through all those situations, and I think they make you better.
“Everybody is fine. We all know what our jobs are. We try to keep things very simple, so nothing changes.”
Asked about the roller-coaster he’s going through and how he views it when many assume pressure is building, Elliott said: “I’m going to continue to go about my business how I want to and we’re going to go to the track every week and show up prepared and do the best job we can as a team. That’s all that I’m after. I’m not here for the drama or the theatrics. I just want to go do a good job for my guys.”
The last driver to win a Cup road course race after starting outside the top 10 was Ross Chastain. He started 16th at Circuit of the Americas before winning that race in March 2022.
If Elliott doesn’t win Sunday, his last chance to make the playoffs will be to win next weekend at Daytona.
“To show up there and be in a must-win situation is like going to Vegas and having to hit the nearest slot machine for the jackpot,” Elliott said. “That’s just silly.
“To me, this is the opportunity we have the most control over. Didn’t have a very good start on the weekend. Puts you in a tough spot. Nobody’s fault but mine that we’re in the spot we’re in.
“Hate it. It is what it is. We’ll fight (Sunday) to the last lap and hopefully something will fall our way.”
