NASCAR Cup Series: Chase Elliott hoping to play a role in recent Dover trend

By winning last October’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway, Chase Elliott is hoping to play a role in a recent trend at the track.

Entering the most recent NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway, which was a round of 12 playoff race that was held early last October, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott was in his third season as a full-time driver in the series, and he had one career victory to his name.

Just over two months earlier, Elliott earned his first career Cup Series victory in the race at Watkins Glen International, ending what was a 98-race win drought to open up his career at NASCAR’s highest level.

In this race at Dover International Speedway, Elliott overcame an uncontrolled tire penalty to earn the second victory of his Cup Series career after holding off Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, the driver who infamously cost the 23-year-old Dawsonville, Georgia native what would have been the first victory of his Cup Series career not even one year earlier at Martinsville Speedway.

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By winning this race, Elliott became the 10th different driver to win a race at Dover International Speedway in the last 20 races at the track going back to the May race there in the 2009 season.

The nine drivers who combined to win the 19 races leading up to Elliott’s victory are all Cup Series champions.

Aside of Elliott, the most recent race winner at the four-turn, 1-mile (1.609-kilometer) Dover International Speedway oval in Dover, Delaware who is not a Cup Series champion is Greg Biffle. Biffle earned his second and final victory at the track in September of 2008.

Meanwhile, seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson has won eight races at Dover International Speedway since then. 2003 champion Matt Kenseth, 2014 champion Kevin Harvick and 2015 champion Kyle Busch have each won two races at the track since then.

In addition, four-time champion Jeff Gordon, three-time champion Tony Stewart, 2004 champion Kurt Busch, 2012 champion Brad Keselowski and 2017 champion Martin Truex Jr. have each won one race at Dover International Speedway since Biffle’s second and final victory at the track.

However, like Elliott, six of these nine drivers were not Cup Series champions when they earned their first career victories at Dover International Speedway. The only three who already were were Kenseth, Kurt Busch and Harvick, whose first career victories at the track took place in June of 2006, October of 2011 and October of 2015, respectively.

As far as Elliott’s championship potential, the simple way of putting it is that he certainly possesses it. In each of his first three seasons as a full-time Cup Series driver, he has qualified for the playoffs, and in each of these three seasons, he has advanced to the round of 12. In the last two seasons, he has advanced to the round of 8.

He finished in 10th, fifth and sixth place in the 2016, 2017 and 2018 championship standings, respectively, and he is still only 23 years old. In addition, ever since he got the monkey off of his back by earning his first career victory last season, he has continued to add to his career win total.

Elliott currently sits in seventh place in this season’s championship standings and fifth in this season’s playoff picture with one victory. He earned this one victory, which was the fourth victory of his Cup Series career, in last Sunday’s race at Talladega Superspeedway.

Will a former NASCAR Cup Series champion win this weekend’s race, the Gander RV 400, at Dover International Speedway, or will Chase Elliott find victory lane at the Monster Mile once again? If neither, who will win this weekend’s race? Regardless, will Elliott become a Cup Series champion to continue this recent trend at the track? The Gander RV 400 is scheduled to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 from the track beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 5.