Chase Elliott encouraged by Sonoma qualifying run in return from his suspension

Chase Elliott will start 10th in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway, an encouraging sign for his chances to capture his first victory of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Chase Elliott made the final round of qualifying for the race at Sonoma. And for him, that was encouraging. What Elliott said Saturday about that qualifying session: pic.twitter.com/zY0aXEIMYF

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 11, 2023

“I feel like my first lap of our [qualifying] session was solid,” Elliott told Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports. “I missed a couple areas… That was gonna be the big thing — if you can get it done on the first one and not have to run again. And then I made a pretty big mistake on my second run… I was honestly surprised we got through, so that was encouraging. And then I about wrecked there in [Turn] 4 on our last lap. Wish I could have gone a little faster. But just glad I didn’t wreck it because I was very close to not driving this car tomorrow. Definitely good to get through. We hadn’t made a second round in awhile so that was nice.”

Sunday will mark the return of Elliott following his one-race suspension for intentionally wrecking Denny Hamlin during the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. This past Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway was Elliott’s seventh absence this Cup Series season. He previously missed six races earlier this season after fracturing the tibia in his left leg in a snowboarding accident.

Chase Elliott chasing 1st victory of NASCAR Cup Series season

Currently sitting 27th in the points standings, Elliott will almost surely need to find his way into victory lane in the final 11 races of the regular season to have a shot at qualifying for the playoffs. Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet has been fast in the past at road courses, as the 2020 Cup Series champion has four wins in his last 15 road course starts.

“For me personally, just kind of looking forward to getting back to work. And just trying to get in a groove because I don’t really feel like I’ve been in one throughout the year. It’s been kind of stop-and-go all season, unfortunately,” Elliott said this week. “But the way I see it is there’s 11 races left, and we pretty much need to go win one of those to get in the [playoffs]. So, that’s where my head’s at right now.”