Driver Chase Elliott has left Daytona International Speedway the past five Februaries plenty frustrated.
Elliott’s runner-up finish to longshot Michael McDowell during Sunday’s Daytona 500 was the toughest setback to date.
Instead of packing up and heading to the next stop on the schedule, Elliott gets one more chance to leave the iconic track a winner before driving south to Homestead. Few are betting against him Sunday when drivers move from the speedway’s 2.5-mile oval to the 14-turn, 3.61-mile road course for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 253, scheduled to be broadcast at 3 p.m. on Fox.
Elliott’s win during NASCAR’s inaugural 253-miler last August was his fourth of five straight wins on road layouts.
Beyond Elliott’s considerable driving skills, his formula for success very well could be an embrace of variety in a sport long confined to racing on ovals.
“Road racing, I feel like, gives you a little bit of everything,” he said. “The challenges that we see on road courses is just different than the typical oval track that we go to. And a lot of times, it’s exciting, too. People are trying to get every inch of the track, running through the dirt trying to make it work.
“Just something a little different; a little bit of a change of pace, which I think is nice.”
NASCAR decision-makers clearly concur, leading to a 2021 schedule shake-up with a strong road-course flavor.
Sunday’s race is the first of seven road races around the Cup Series circuit. Joining Daytona and road course stalwarts Sonoma Raceway and Watkins Glen International are Road America in Wisconsin, Circuit of The Americas in Texas, historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The philosophical shift would seem to provide a clear-cut advantage for Elliott, even if the defending champion in the Cup Series downplays it.
“There has not been one part of me that watched the schedule change, saw seven road courses and thought, ‘Yeah, we’ve got it now,’ ” Elliott said.
With a win, Elliott would lock up an early spot in the playoffs during his quest to join Jimmie Johnson as the only repeat Cup Series champion in more than 20 years.
Ten other different drivers have tried and failed to double up since Jeff Gordon won back-to-back titles in 1997 and 1998. During his run of four championships, Gordon established himself as NASCAR’s King of the Road, winning a record nine road course races, including six straight from August 1997 to June 2000.
Elliott could tie Gordon’s streak Sunday and pull within three of his record total.
Longtime Fox announcer Mike Joy wondered if Elliott’s success traces back to his days growing up the son of Hall of Famer Bill Elliott in Dawsonville, Ga. The elder Elliott won just one NASCAR road race, in 1983 at Riverside, Calif., but did raise his son in the Blue Ridge Mountain region.
“Chase Elliott growing up in the mountains of north Georgia, did he spend some of his late youth turning a wheel on those roads at high rate of speed? Maybe,” Joy said. “He certainly has adapted.”
Elliott’s peers have struggled to keep pace, but there are sure to be challengers Sunday.
Martin Truex Jr., second to Elliot among active drivers with four wins on road courses, finished third at Daytona in August 2020. Runner-up Denny Hamlin has yet to take the checkered flag in a road race but recognized this offseason it is time to end the drought if he planned to finally add a Cup Series championship to a resumé that includes 44 wins, including three Daytona 500s.
“For me, it’s working on my road course skills. I’ve got to get better at them,” Hamlin said. “It’s not something you can just kind of write off and say, ‘You know, the road to the championship doesn’t lead through these races, so it’s not where I’m going to focus my effort.’ You’ve got to say, ‘OK, this is a significant part of our schedule.
“ ‘How can I improve on them to give ourselves a better opportunity to win? ‘.”
Meanwhile, McDowell is just a 60-to-1 favorite to win Sunday, down from 100-to-1 during the Daytona 500. Six drivers previously have won the season’s first two races, but the 34-year-old journeyman likes his chances and has the track record to back it up.
McDowell is a former IMSA road-course race winner and third-place finisher in the Rolex 24 run on the same Daytona road course.
“Even without the Daytona 500 win, we would still feel confident coming back this weekend,” he said. “We have really worked hard on our road-course program this offseason and we are getting better. It’s another good opportunity for us.”
