There might be no safer bet in sports than taking Chase Elliott to win on a road course.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver took the checkered flag Sunday afternoon at Road America, giving the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion two wins on the season. The victory also further cemented Elliott’s status as the sport’s best driver on road courses — maybe ever.
Elliott now has 13 victories in his Cup career, with seven of them coming at road courses. In fact, at just 25 years old, Elliott already ranks third all-time in road course victories.
Take a look:
Now, there are some caveats.
For much of NASCAR’s history, the Cup Series only visited one or more of three road courses per season: Sonoma Raceway, Watkins Glen International and the now-closed Riverside International Raceway. Elliott currently has wins on four road courses that aren’t one of the aforementioned three. So, he’s taken advantage of having more opportunities than many of his predecessors.
Plus, there’s no denying Hendrick Motorsports currently is racing with superior equipment, and that Elliott and the No. 9 team have found a road race “secret sauce,” if you will.
Nevertheless, the numbers don’t lie.
In his first five road races in the Cup Series, Elliott averaged an 11.8 finishing position with two top-10s, including a fourth-place finish. He was good, but not great.
However, the floodgates officially opened Aug. 5, 2018, when Elliott took the checkered flag at Watkins Glen for his first Cup victory. Including that triumph, Elliott has won seven of his last 11 road course races, with a sixth-place effort and a runner-up finish to boot.
He clearly is the best road course racer currently in the Cup Series. If he isn’t already the best of all time, he might earn that distinction by the end of the season.
