ATLANTA — Chase Elliott could use a hug. The kind of warm, understanding embrace you can get only at home. The kind that makes everything OK again. That and some unimpeded horsepower would be nice for Georgia’s own Elliott during Sunday night’s Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
A season unlike any other for Elliott — one of nearly as many stops as starts, one T-boned more than once by questionable decision making — comes home trying to find its happy place again.
His last race was a parable for Elliott’s entire 2023. At Chicago a week ago, Elliott crashed during qualifying, forcing him to start at the rear in a backup car. He spent race day overcoming the self-inflicted deficit, grinding and grinding his way through traffic on the way to a highly respectable third-place finish.
