As recently as two weeks ago, Chase Elliott appeared to be in the driver’s seat to win the NASCAR Cup Series regular season championship.
However, with two races now left in the regular season and the battle essentially a two-horse race, the outlook couldn’t be any more different for NASCAR’s perennial most popular driver.
Not only is Elliott now playing catch-up to Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron. But he’s trailing by a significant margin as the series heads to Richmond Raceway for a Saturday night showdown.
So does Elliott have time to claw his way back to the top of the standings over the next two weekends? Or will Byron cruise to the regular season title and capture the coveted 15 bonus playoff points that come with it?
What Happened To Put Chase Elliott Behind The Eight Ball For The Regular Season Title?
Heading into the NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway two weekends ago, Chase Elliott sat atop the standings. Although his four-point lead over William Byron was a slender one, it was a lead nevertheless.
But by the time NASCAR left the Hawkeye state, the regular season championship pictured had changed dramatically. Byron winning at Iowa coupled with a disappointing finish for Elliott moved Byron back to the top of the points heap where he’s now spent 19 weeks this season.
Elliott’s deficit to Byron after Iowa was still a manageable 18 points, though. However, that margin ballooned in a big way this past weekend at Watkins Glen, where Byron more than doubled his advantage.
Now with just a couple of races to go in the regular season, Elliott finds himself 42 points in arrears of his teammate, who is admittedly keeping a close eye on the fight for the regular season crown — and adjusting his strategy accordingly.
“Yeah, it’s on the front of our mind, for sure, during the week,” Byron said during his pre-race media availability last weekend at Watkins Glen. “I’m sure every driver’s guilty of looking at the points right after the race.”
Reeling In William Byron Will Be No Small Task For Chase Elliott
Chase Elliott’s 42-point deficit to William Byron isn’t all that’s working against his bid to win the regular season title. It also just so happens that one of the two upcoming tracks — Richmond and Daytona — plays heavily to Byron’s favor.
Although neither driver has been to Victory Lane at Richmond, Byron boasts a far superior record to Elliott at Daytona. While Elliott has never prevailed in a points race at the high-banked 2.5-mile track, Byron has won the last two Daytona 500s and also triumphed at The World Center of Racing in August 2020.
Elliott, meanwhile, is 0-for-19 in points races at the fabled superspeedway. He did, however, finish second to Byron in that August 2020 race and came home runner-up to Michael McDowell in the next year’s Daytona 500.
But given the volatile nature of the racing at Daytona — where drivers can easily get swept up in a multi-car wreck due to the close-quarters nature of the racing — Elliott could make up a ton of ground if he finishes well and Byron crashes out of the regular season finale.
So even with all his success at Daytona, Byron is by no means banking on a good points night. He knows that at Daytona, things can go sideways in a hurry. Both literally and figuratively.
To clinch the regular season title at Richmond and not have to sweat Daytona, he would need to stretch his lead over second-place to 60 points. Fifty-nine is the maximum number of points Elliott could make up on him in one race.
“You’re hopeful that you get to a point there where you kind of know where you stand before you get to Daytona,” Byron said. “You just hope that by the time you get there, you can kind of have some more certainty.”
