Chase Elliott to drive in Pocono Xfinity Series race
Chase Elliott is going to be pulling double-duty next weekend in the Pocono Mountains.
On Wednesday, Hendrick Motorsports made a huge announcement, revealing Elliott is planning to race in both the Xfinity Series and Cup Series showdowns at the track. Come July 22nd and July 23rd, NASCAR fans in attendance will get all the Elliott they can handle at Pocono.
Check out the announcement below, one that’s sure to fire up fans of the sport’s most popular driver.
“Pocono’s Xfinity Series race just got a little more interesting,” tweeted Hendrick Motorsports, with a graphic accompanying the announcement.
As the graphic reveals, Elliott will be behind the wheel of the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, and it should be a sight to see. It’s not every week Elliott pulls double duty, so this will be special.
Alas, Chase Elliott needs a win to get into the playoffs in the Cup Series, so perhaps racing in the Xfinity Series will help him get there. Time will tell, but we’re not putting anything beyond the reach of the former NASCAR champion.
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While Chase Elliott doesn’t have a win in 2023, he believes his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports team is trending in the right direction moving forward.
“I feel like the good news is we’ve been trending in a good direction,” Elliott said, via NASCAR.com. “And I feel like the areas that I’ve struggled in, I’ve made a little progress over the last month or so. And we’ve had some solid runs at tracks that I was expecting to remind me more of our struggles last year.
“I feel like we’ve been executing races at a high level over the last month or so, which I think is a really, really good thing. And I think our team is in a really good place. We just need a little bit of pace. And I’ve been saying that over the last couple of weeks. But I think a lot of that falls on me to extract that pace to know in the early stages of the event or even in our short practice session to say, ‘hey, I need this and this to go better.’”
When it comes down to it, Chase Elliott takes full responsibility for the way his team’s performed.
“I think all those things are on me and to make sure that I’m giving the information that needs to be given to help lead our team in a better direction in those crucial moments.”