Chase Elliott ready to put miserable May behind him

The Hendrick Motorsports driver hasn’t finished better than 24th in the past four points races, falling from second in points to seventh.

Chase Elliott prefers not to cite bad luck as an excuse, but in the aftermath of a brutal four-race stretch that left him wondering if the tailspin would ever end, he acknowledges the racing gods may have had it out for him over last month

In succession, Elliott finished 24th at Richmond International Raceway, 30th at Talladega Superspeedway, 29th at Kansas Speedway, and 38th at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Compounding the frustration was that Elliott’s poor results had little to do with mistakes by himself, more so due to simple bad luck or a lack of pit road execution by his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team.

Richmond: Elliott was forced to restart at the rear of the field after his crew had an uncontrolled tire during a pit stop with 22 laps remaining.

Talladega: Elliott was positioned in the top five when a tap from AJ Allmendinger sent him crashing with 19 laps remaining.

Kansas: Elliott again had a fast car, but a potential good finish went awry when during his first stop he and Michael McDowell collided with the front end of the No. 24 car, sustaining considerable damage.

Charlotte: Elliott was running in the top 10 when debris off Jeffrey Earnhardt’s car caused damage to Elliott’s engine, who then slowed and was slammed into from behind by Brad Keselowski.

May was that kind of month. One giving the impression that Elliott walked underneath a ladder in the presence of a black cat. It’s no wonder the 21-year-old was excited to see the calendar turn to June, and revert to the form that saw him record six top-10 finishes in the season’s first eight races, which placed him second in the points standings.

“I don’t like using the term bad luck, but I guess some of it has been so to speak” Elliott said Friday at Dover International Speedway. “I’m not real sure what you call it.”

While Elliott, the highly-touted son of 1988 Cup Series champion Bill Elliott and the driver Hendrick named as Jeff Gordon’s heir apparent, is still solidly positioned to qualify for the playoffs with 14 regular season races remaining, that margin has shrunk, not only due to his misfortune but two surprising winners emerging, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Austin Dillon, during that same timeframe.

Both Stenhouse and Dillon were first-time winners, a status Elliott has yet to obtain. The second-year driver has had his chances -- he was leading the season-opening Daytona 500 before running out of fuel with three laps to go, led 106 laps at Phoenix International Raceway in March, and twice finished runner-up last season en route to being named Rookie of the Year -- but that initial breakthrough victory remains elusive.

“I hope we can do it at some point,” Elliott said. “That would be nice, but sure, I want to beat them, but I respect it and I’m happy for them and we will have our opportunity as well.”

The schedule taking the Monster Energy Cup Series to Dover, site of Sunday’s AAA 400, might be the break Elliott needs to snap his recent bout of adversity -- even if the one-mile track carries a well-earned reputation for being one of the more challenging on the circuit because of its concrete surface, high banking, and propensity for multi-car accidents. Last year, he finished third in both races and nearly won in the spring after being involved in a thrilling duel with eventual winner Matt Kenseth and second-place finisher Kyle Larson.

On Sunday, Elliott would love to improve upon that success from a year ago. But more than anything, he’d just like to leave Dover with a good finish.

“We are happy to see June here and just kind of a shot to try to improve and get some good solid finishes if nothing else or really just finish would be good.”

“That is our goal this weekend to try not to have anything stupid happen, finish and hopefully just try to move on down the road and try to get some just solid days, just good experience, execution and just exercise all the parts of the race that you have to do to run well and compete to win.”