Forever in our heart: Just now, a 28 years old NASCAR driver- Chase Elliott and his friend has been confirmed…

AVONDALE, Ariz. – It was certainly not the typical season for Dawsonville, Georgia’s Chase Elliott. He missed seven races total – recovering from a broken leg and serving a one-race suspension – and was never able to make up enough points to qualify for the super-competitive 16-driver Playoff field.

That’s not to say the season wasn’t productive, however. He said his team still learned a lot and remains perhaps more motivated than ever.

Despite missing the races, Elliott was still successful enough to climb to 17th in the season standings – the first position outside the 16-driver playoff field. His seven top-five finishes and 15 top-10 efforts are both more than three Playoff drivers who competed in every race. Elliott would like to continue a five-year streak of winning at least one race a season in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series season finale at Phoenix Raceway.

“You’re always wanting to be better,” Elliott said of missing the first Playoff of his eight-year fulltime career in the series.

“I think we’ve learned a lot about ourselves and the things I need to do better. I know I’ve learned a lot about myself and areas I want to improve in. Will try to tackle a lot of that this weekend, and get a head-start on things we want to improve for next year. Hopefully (Sunday) goes well and we can end it on a positive note.

“It’s not where I want to be, so I’m not happy with it. I want to be better. I feel like I have a really, really strong team and guys working hard every week to give me the thigs I want and need and that’s all you can ask for. I just want to continue on that path and continue to work hard like we have been, and I think the hard work and resilience of not quitting and giving up will eventually get us where we need to go.”

Veteran Denny Hamlin Is At Peace With Solid 2023 Season

Perpetual NASCAR Cup Series championship favorite Denny Hamlin will not be among the four drivers competing for the 2023 title Sunday afternoon – a mechanical failure in the previous round essentially doomed his hopes for a title.

But the three-time Daytona 500 winning veteran and outspoken competitor arrived in Phoenix feeling at least “at peace” with his situation although obviously disappointed. Hamlin is ranked fifth in the title standings – tops among those that didn’t qualify for the big trophy run.

Hamlin won three races, had 14 top five finishes and 18 top 10 runs along with four pole positions – the most he’s earned in a decade. Only one driver – Kyle Larson – has led more laps this season than Hamlin’s 984. But a parts failure resulting in a 30th-place finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway two weeks ago ultimately put him in a deficit that proved too much to overcome.

Last season he missed out on the Championship 4 because of the final lap move by Ross Chastain at Martinsville Speedway that propelled Chastain into the final foursome.

“I think it was kind of a microcosm of my whole career honestly,” Hamlin said of missing out on a championship chance this season. “I feel like every year there’s been some sort of kink in the Playoffs that has either kept us from moving on or kept us from winning a championship.

“I wish we didn’t have mechanical failures, I wish it weren’t part of our sport, I wish we all had the same equipment, and it was durable and nothing ever broke and if you ran bad, it was your fault. I wish that’s the sport we had, but it’s not. I had a crazy 00.1 percent chance of what happened happening (at Homestead), and it did. I can only control what I can control but to me, I don’t lose any motivation behind it because I’m still going to try to win every week, but there is a luck factor behind it.

“All of our teams had the same issue, but there’s didn’t do what mine did and so it’s crummy. I wish there was a larger sample size for sure, but there’s not and I’ve just got to live with it.”

As for the season, Hamlin said he’d give his team a B-plus.

“Certainly, we could have more race wins. Three race wins, I’ll certainly take that, but it’s probably not up to our standards….it was stupid stuff that happens.

“If we get five-plus wins I put it at A-minus because we didn’t make the Final Four, but I feel very satisfied and content with the result of what we put on the race track and that’s why every single week we’re a contender you have to beat. We’re not hit or miss every now and then and disappear for 15 races and then all of a sudden come back. It was a steady season for us from beginning to end and I thought we put together a nice one.”

Ross Chastain Is Looking Ahead

A year ago this week, Ross Chastain was preparing to make his Championship 4 debut at Phoenix Raceway after a sensational headline-making rally the week before in the cutoff race at Martinsville Speedway.

Chastain comes to Phoenix Raceway this week, however, ranked ninth in the championship standings, 21 points behind eighth place Chris Buescher and 36 points behind Brad Keselowski. Chastain won at Nashville this summer, has nine top-five finishes and his 483 laps led on the year is seventh best among all drivers.

There is a decidedly different feel this championship week, but one that Chastain said has only motivated him more.

“I haven’t really looked back, just been week-to-week because there’s only one off-week all year,” Chastain said. “There’s definitely a lot of times as we’re preparing that I’ve flashed back and remember last year because last year was the first in a lot of firsts for me, lot of first time competing week in and week out, first time in Playoffs, first time with all those nerves and all those things.

“So, this year I was having some flashbacks, even this weekend I had flashbacks since I flew out here about what I went through last year and the difference is this year is really just observing, not getting too excited or too down, just observing what I did last year and what I did this year.”