Last fall, Chase Elliott came close to winning his first Cup race at Martinsville Speedway and advancing to the championship race in Miami before he was spun by Denny Hamlin.
“We ended last season on such a high note,” Elliott said on Wednesday’s NASCAR America. “Didn’t end, obviously, the way we wanted. But we started those last 10 ... I felt like we hit our stride at the right time. Ran second a bunch, which isn’t what you want, but it was good runs. And we were not in those positions by luck.”
Elliott earned four second-place finishes in the final 10 races of the season and had every expectation that his momentum would continue this year. After his accident at Martinsville, he closed out the season with three consecutive top 10s.
“I was real excited coming into the year, thought we were gonna have things going and sometimes you just don’t,” Elliott said. “And I think you just have to trust in what you’ve got going on and know that things do go in cycles.”
More: Hendrick Motorsports seeks to snap yearlong winless streak
Elliott believes that trust in the organization is the key to turning the season around – not only for himself, but all of Hendrick Motorsports.
“You don’t want to completely steer off course and do something completely different – especially for Jimmie (Johnson), the success he’s had over the years,” Elliott said. “Why would you change who you are and what you do now?
“I don’t really know that you change that much. You continue to do what you do. You believe in what you’ve got going on and you just fight for everything you can each week. If I do my job to the best of my ability, I have to believe that the next guy is doing his to the best of his ability. … Just have confidence in the people around you.”
For more, watch the video above.