He acknowledged that he was the “other guy” when people talked of the HMS roster which includes Cup Series champions, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson. However, being side-lined isn’t something that affects him a lot. He said, “Yeah, I use it all as fuel, go just keep it coming. All the preseason predictions and everything.”

OFFICIAL: @WilliamByron was the leader at the time of caution.

He wins the 66th running of the #DAYTONA500! pic.twitter.com/PMIyF0TdVZ

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 20, 2024

He continued, “I just try to stay quietly focused. I feel like for me, I do well having my own space and being able to work through things with my race team.” His mindset is centered on balancing calmness and voicing out thoughts to make the HMS team better. While he is aware that he is never going to be the most vocal guy in the garage, he is plenty satisfied with it.

He concluded, “I just enjoy getting in the race car and putting the helmet on and going to work. That’s what I’ve always lived for.” With an unimpressive track record in the event, Byron carried one of the lowest odds amongst his teammates to win the Daytona 500. However, it was he who took the checkered flag at the end of the 500 miles.

How William Byron and Alex Bowman completed a 1-2 finish for Hendrick Motorsports

Monday’s race was no short of action. With wrecks filling the field right from stage 1, Byron and Alex Bowman found themselves ahead of their counterparts in the final laps of the day. Byron was engaged in racing Ross Chastain and Austin Cindric when the duo got involved in a wreck that sent them crashing out. Thankfully for Byron, he’d just taken the white flag when officials called for caution.

William Byron wins the Daytona 500! #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/bmofJSB6k3

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 20, 2024

With the race then fixed to end in green or caution, Byron held his lead with Bowman at his heels. The two drivers who went in with the lowest odds ended up giving HMS its best finish in the Daytona 500 since Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s win in 2014. Meanwhile, Byron’s teammate Chase Elliott won the first stage and finished the day in 14th position and Kyle Larson was slightly ahead at 11th.

The post How Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott Hype Overshadow William Byron’s Talent and Acts as Fuel for the Daytona 500 Winner appeared first on The SportsRush.

Larson believes that having help from behind is one of the keys to winning the event. He says to NASCAR, “I think you often see that I feel like with a lot of the guys who consistently run up front, everybody else in the field realizes that they’ve had success and they trust them to follow them. So you really need help from behind as well.” Larson has raced in the 500-miler several times in the past and holds a best finish of 7th place.

The #DAYTONA500 has been postponed until 4 p.m. ET tomorrow due to weather. pic.twitter.com/bmNEuWQVJr

— Hendrick Motorsports (@TeamHendrick) February 18, 2024

Byron, on the other hand, has fared even worse than his counterpart. In 6 starts, he has never finished better than 21st. His capabilities behind the wheel can be questioned by none after the season he had in 2023. Once he finds the key to unlocking the Daytona 500 there will be holding him back. But that’s easier said than done.

Byron says of the challenge on superspeedways, “We saw three-wide (racing last year), and a lot of that has to do with saving fuel and how that all plays out. So it’s just tough to balance. Now I feel like everyone’s gotten so smart with this strategy that it’s just more of a track position thing than ever.” 

Why Hendrick Motorsports VP Jeff Gordon wants his drivers to win the Daytona 500

The last time a HMS driver won the Daytona 500 was in 2014. Should Larson or Byron achieve the task this year, there’d be none more pleased than 4X Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon. He says of what it would mean for one of his men to be a winner at the event, “I want all four of them to experience it over the future because it is so special and you realize it once you win it. But right now, they’re realizing how hard it is to win.”

Both Larson and Byron had plenty of success in the past season though they did not win the title. They will be hoping to carry the same momentum into the 2024 season opener. The other HMS drivers, Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott will be running to break their bad spells from 2023 and bounce back strong.

The post Kyle Larson and William Byron Reveal Challenge Behind Winning the Daytona 500 appeared first on The SportsRush.

He said to Fox Sports in a recent interview, “I attest the award to my family’s history in the sport.” The Elliott family, including Bill and his brothers (Ernie and Dan), is beloved throughout the racing fandom for their simple beginnings and rise-to-the-top story. Chase explained, “They were just a small-town group of guys who set out with a big dream. They were a super easy group to pull forward because a lot of people could relate to them.”

Not surprisingly, Bill won the Most Popular Driver award a record 16 times. Such was his fame that he had to withdraw his name from the ballot to give others a chance after winning it in 2002.

Chase Elliott is looking to bounce back after a tough 2023. He talks with Tom Rinaldi. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/KyWQFfCi2X

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 18, 2024

Continuing the legacy of keeping popularity in the family, Elliott could not be more grateful to his fans. He quipped, “I have been super fortunate that a lot of folks have been supportive of mine over the years.” His streak of winning the award began in 2018 and has been kept alive thus far. Going into 2024, he will be hoping to find his form behind the wheel after a lackluster 2023 season and provide a worthy spectacle to those who support him.

Chase Elliott’s take on the criticisms that surround him and how he approaches it

Despite the love that he receives from fans, Elliott has been hit with complaints of impulsiveness several times over his career. He has been entangled in situations with drivers including Denny Hamlin and his teammate Kyle Larson which have drawn a negative light. However, he is in the clear about how much of all that affects him.

“To be totally honest, as you ride that roller coaster and you see the top of the mountain and you see the bottom of it too, it teaches you what really matters,” he says. For him, what that is is the expectation that he sets of himself and that his close friends and family set. “The rest of it doesn’t matter,” he concluded.

The post What Chase Elliott Really Thinks About Being the Most Popular Driver in NASCAR appeared first on The SportsRush.

Topping the list is 3-time Cup Series champion Tony Stewart. The icon has made 17 starts in the Daytona 500 and never visited victory lane. The closest he ever came to it was in 2004 when he finished second next to Dale Earnhardt Jr. Though he is one of the best to grace NASCAR, the Daytona 500 checkbox is one that he couldn’t tick off.

Mark Martin is widely regarded as the greatest driver to never win a championship. However, a championship isn’t the only thing that Martin did not win. The Hall of Famer ran in the Daytona 500 29 times and failed to make it to the victory lane on all tries. The closest he came to a win was in 2007 when he finished runner-up behind Kevin Harvick.

Some of the other big names that never won the event but are past the stage of competing in it anymore are Bobby Labonte, Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne, and Rusty Wallace. Coming to the drivers who are active in the competition for honors in the 2024 Daytona 500, six names stand out from the rest.

The greatest active drivers who can still win the Daytona 500

Joe Gibbs Racing star Martin Truex Jr. has the most number (19) of Daytona 500 starts in the current field. His closest finish to glory was in 2016 when Denny Hamlin beat him over a margin of 0.01 seconds. The driver with the second most starts is 2X Cup Series champion Kyle Busch (18). Heading into his second season in the colors of Richard Childress, he will be wanting to do better than his runner-up finish in 2019.

RFK Racing co-owner Brad Keselowski will have the chance to beat his best finish of third (2014) this Sunday. The icing on the cake, he will also be ending his 92-race win drought should he win. Clearing space at the bottom of the line are Hendrick Motorsports stars, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson. The former’s best finish was second in 2021, while Larson’s was seventh in 2016 and 2019. All these drivers are at the prime of their careers and will no doubt love getting a taste of victory this weekend.

The post Best NASCAR Drivers to Never Win the Daytona 500 Ft. Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and Others appeared first on The SportsRush.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver, who won the Most Popular Driver honor for the sixth year in a row, recently confessed that he likes his privacy and enjoys the fact that some parts of his life aren’t there for public consumption. “I like the private life, outside of racing, what I like to do, I like it private,” Elliott told AP.

“I like the fact that no one knows what I like to do.”

In fact, Elliott’s private life is so private that even his boss, Rick Hendrick, doesn’t know what the Dawsonville native does in his off-duty hours. “I don’t know what other stuff he does,” he said.

“He’s not a party guy. He’s not a world traveler. I think he enjoys living in Dawsonville. Chase, he has not given up. In no way is he racing because he’s Chase Elliott. He’s racing because he knows he’s a champion.”

Chase Elliott got a lot of his personality traits from his parents

Apart from inheriting a big chunk of his father Bill Elliott’s fanbase, Chase Elliott has also inherited some aspects of Awesome Bill’s personality and his mother’s. One of those is his lack of interest in attracting attention to himself.

“I’m not the kinda guy that’s going to seek out attention like that. I think that kinda stems from them,” Elliott said of his parents in a 2018 interview.

Interestingly, a big criticism that has built up gradually against Chase Elliott is that while he’s the center of attention in NASCAR, he has no personality to show for it. But then again, Elliott made it clear very early in his career that if he wants to share something, he will. And if he doesn’t, he won’t, no matter what.

“If I have something I want to share or a cool event I went to, sure I’ll share it. But, I’m not going to share a part of my day with everybody,” he said and emphasized that he is a “pretty straightforward guy” who isn’t interested in changing his personality to make anyone happy.

But the question is, does that ‘anyone’ also include his fans?

The post “I Like It Private”: Chase Elliott Uninterested in Sharing His Life Outside of NASCAR appeared first on The SportsRush.

Whatever the reason might be, it’s not right to judge the abilities of a driver based on just a single season. As much as that is true, both these drivers are the front faces of the winningest team in NASCAR. And with that comes the burden of never-ending expectations. The duo has to regain their lost momentum and prove themselves this year. But just how crucial is it for them to win? Let’s hear what HMS legend Steve Letarte had to say.

“It is uncomfortable, right? Not winning at a company that basically, I say has everything,” said Letarte. “Let me just say they want for kind of nothing. They have all the resources; they have all the stuff.”

He recalled HMS Vice Chairman Jeff Gordon saying that the latter was happy about Kyle Larson and Byron making it to the championship 4. However, he also remembered how Mrs. Hendrick said, “I can’t believe we didn’t have four (cars)”. Letarte explained, “What she means is she sees what they have. She is not in charge of running the business, but she sees everything that her husband and all the executives put into it and it’s a lot.”

Despite the pressure on their shoulders, Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman have the constant support of their boss

Luckily, amidst all their miseries, Rick Hendrick did not give up on his drivers. Just as NASCAR was about to wrap up its 2023 season, Mr. Hendrick rooted for his friends to end the season on a strong note to lay a foundation for an even stronger one the following year. He said, “You just have to put your arm around them and say look, ‘this happened. Now let’s get ready for next year. Let’s see if we can get better every single week as the year goes on. These races that are left. Let’s see if we can get in the top 10, get in the top five and win a race.”

Hendrick did exactly what’s expected of a leader. He stood for his drivers when they needed him the most. In a fast-paced sport like NASCAR, it’s extremely difficult to catch up even after missing a couple of races, let alone six races that Elliott missed and three races that Bowman did.

The Class of 2017 Hall of Famer also extended his support towards the crew chiefs of his drivers and said, “To Alan (Gustafson) and Blake (Harris), we have to say guys, ‘we are 100 percent behind you. We know this is going to work. We just got to keep our heads up. There’s no pressure.” Needless to say, Rick Hendrick is doing his best to reduce the pressure on his best drivers.

The post “It Is Uncomfortable”: Are Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman Under Pressure at HMS After Disastrous 2023 NASCAR Season? appeared first on The SportsRush.

Wallace is followed by none other than the Most Popular Driver Award winner Chase Elliott. The Hendrick Motorsports superstar has 479,474 followers. Winning a championship in 2020, Elliott has gone on to become the face of NASCAR since his debut. Coming off of an upsetting season in 2023, the support from his followers will be a huge strength as he tries to stage a comeback.

.@NASCAR‘s most followed drivers on @Instagram heading into the 2024 season, per @Zoomph. pic.twitter.com/QOk3e0Sp0Q

— Adam Stern (@A_S12) February 12, 2024

Third on the list is 2X Cup Series champion Kyle Busch. Rowdy made his shift from Joe Gibbs Racing to Richard Childress Racing at the beginning of the 2023 season but that doesn’t seem to have affected his fanbase on Instagram. He holds 422,257 followers in a show of tough competition to his younger counterparts. Going into the 2024 season, the sky’s the limit for him both on and off the track.

Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson (336,631) and Team Penske’s Joey Logano (280,489) round off the top 5 most followed Cup Series drivers on Instagram. 

Tony Breidinger and Hailie Deegan upset Cup Series superstars with insane Instagram numbers

In the world of motorsports, not a lot has come close to reaching the tall bar that ARCA Menards driver Toni Breidinger has set. With 2,036,674 followers she trumps the numbers of her male counterparts by a huge margin. Having a career as a Victoria’s Secret Model in addition to being a skilled race car driver certainly seems to be helping her social media popularity.

Hailie Deegan is the second most followed NASCAR driver next to Breidinger. She has 1,499,535 followers, a number almost triple that of Bubba Wallace’s. Deegan is all set to make her full-time debut in the Xfinity Series in 2024 at the young age of 22. Currently the only active female full-time driver in the top three tiers of NASCAR, she serves as an inspiration to many women aspiring to make it in racing.

The post Most Followed NASCAR Drivers on Instagram: Bubba Wallace Leads Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch in Cup Series List appeared first on The SportsRush.

That confidence is great to have, especially at the beginning of the season. And perhaps nobody needs it more than Chase Elliott, whose 2023 season was an absolute disaster. Although the Dawsonville native was able to get his NAPA Auto Parts Chevy in the owner’s championship, it was the first time in six years that he had to stay away from the playoff rumble.

But how good is Elliott at running “The Great American Race”? The HMS ace has two wins (2017, and 2018) and three poles at the Daytona International Speedway, which came in 2016, 2017, and 2018. But when it comes to the Daytona 500, he has only two poles, one in 2016, his very first attempt at the 500-mile race, and another in 2017.

Elliott’s runner-up run in the 2021 Daytona 500 is his best performance in the “Superbowl of NASCAR”. The following year, he finished 10th in the 500. However, he has never won this coveted race. But can he rewrite his history in the famed race? We can only wait and watch.

Why is Chase Elliott so eager to win the Daytona 500?

When you’re Chase Elliott, the son of the legendary Bill Elliott, who won the Daytona 500 twice, you are bound to put pressure on yourself and perform accordingly. Or at least, some might think so. But Elliott doesn’t want to win the Daytona 500 just because his dad had won it.

“I want to earn my place, and I’ve always felt that way from a young age. I don’t want to do it just because Dad did it. I want to earn it,” he said in an interview. “The races are hard to win, so if you can get across that hurdle, it’s something to be proud of and something to enjoy.”

But that’s not solely why this race holds a special place in Elliott’s heart. In another interview, Elliott said that the Daytona 500 kicks off at a great time of the year. For those, like Elliott, who live further up North, it can be quite cold. Whereas, in Florida, the weather is warmer and thus more welcoming.

The post Can Chase Elliott Finally Break His Daytona 500 Winless Streak? appeared first on The SportsRush.

The Chiefs faced the 49ers on February 11, a week before the upcoming Daytona 500. This game was a rematch from the 2020 Super Bowl that the Chiefs won. That year, Chase Elliott won the Cup Series championship. But that’s not all.

The Kansas City Chiefs have been a part of three of the last four Super Bowls. And in all of those years, the NASCAR Cup Series champion was less than 30 years old. In 2023, the Chiefs beat the Eagles, and Ryan Blaney won the Cup Series championship at 29. The year before that, the Chiefs locked horns against the Bucs, and Kyle Larson, who was 29 then, won the Cup title. As mentioned before, Elliott won the championship the same year when the Chiefs beat the 49ers in 2020.

On that note, the drivers who will be 29 this year at Phoenix on November 10 are Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe. Elliott, Tyler Reddick, and Erik Jones will be 28, while William Byron, Austin Cindric, and Noah Gragson will be 26.

Another way to see how the Super Bowl could predict the NASCAR Cup Series champion is that the three times the Kansas City Chiefs played the Super Bowls they were followed by three drivers winning their first-ever Cup Series championship. Indeed, good news for the Denny Hamlin fans.

Could 2024 be Denny Hamlin’s year?

The 23XI Racing co-owner has won 51 Cup races. He has made it to the coveted Championship race thrice in the last five years. Although Denny Hamlin doesn’t show any symptoms of slowing down, he indeed is 43, and not everybody is Bobby Labonte, who won the Cup Series championship at 45. But there is no reason to believe that Hamlin cannot replicate the feat at forty-plus age. After all, with an array of victories in the top-tier NASCAR series, we all know how competitive the #11 Toyota icon is.

After getting chucked out of the playoffs last year, Hamlin had said, “I know with the team I’ve got and the abilities that I’ve got on short tracks, intermediates, superspeedways, there’s nothing missing in the DNA to get it done. It’s just sometimes luck is not on your side, and with the format getting a smaller and smaller sample size, luck is a factor in it.”

But will luck favor Hamlin this year? His fans would argue that he started the season with a victory at The Clash. Although it wasn’t a point-paying race, a win is a win. That win came in a newly designed Toyota, which was a collaboration between Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing, and 23XI Racing. Only time will tell if the Pied Piper of Pocono will be able to add the title of a Cup Series champion to his resume this year.

The post Can the Super Bowl Predict Who Will Win the NASCAR Cup Series in 2024? appeared first on The SportsRush.

As he puts it, “Some of the incidents that I’ve had over time with Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson, these are two of the most popular drivers in our series right, so when you have incidents with those guys,  you’re gonna be the brunt of what the fan reaction is, and so I chose to embrace it.” 

The latest incident between Hamlin and Larson at Pocono last year did not sit well with most, exacerbated by the lack of remorse the JGR driver showed after his aggressive move on the #5 driver.  Having said that, the three-time Daytona 500 winner did reveal that by and large, the fan sentiment regarding him is not as bad as it might look to an outsider.

“Generally speaking, my rivalry with the fans has been actually a pretty friendly one. The ones that I interact with on this side of the fence, so they have pit passes, garage pass,  it’s been very very respectful honestly. I’ve had a lot of really great fan interactions, I always try to sign for them when I have time. But when they’re on the other side of the fence, talking mess, I’m on the other side of the fence talking mess too,” added the 23XI owner, who is focused on his quest to get that first Cup Series title that has eluded him all these years.

What led to Hamlin’s original “I beat your favorite driver” chant?

After his victory at Bristol during the playoffs last year, Hamlin was booed incessantly by the crowd. His response? A cold “I beat your favorite driver! All of them!” And had the #11 driver planned any of it?

“It was spontaneous for sure in that moment, simply because of the crowd, I was just feeding off of the crowd..,” revealed Hamlin, who continued with an extension of that taunt after this week’s Clash at the LA Coliseum.

Turns out, he has retired this particular chant due to the intervention of his father, who expressed his dislike and termed it as “just too cocky.”

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