Why Chase Elliott's Martinsville challenge could be his biggest test yet

Chase Elliott will start eighth for the Round of 8 finale at the Martinsville Speedway, a must-win race for the 29-year-old if he intends to make it to the championship four in Phoenix. With a sword hanging on his neck at the sub-one-mile track, it poses as his biggest test yet.

Elliott is one of the few racers to have won a race in the NASCAR postseason. He won the Hollywood Casino 400 and showcased that he still has the grit in him to make it to Phoenix as a championship contender.

But, since the Round of 8 began, his luck has seemingly taken a step back as he finished 18th at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and only completed 51 laps of the Talladega before being ruled out of the race. This leaves him a massive 62 points below the cutline.

With the gap being insurmountable, even if his rivals have their career's worst race ever, Chase Elliott has only one way to get out of this maze, i.e., through a win at Martinsville. Though the HM driver has won at Martinsville in similar do-or-die circumstances in 2020, which laid down his path for a win in Phoenix, this time the challenge is a bit different.

Arriving at Martinsville, he is on one of the worst streaks of results in his career. His HM stablemates are also in the mix, as William Byron and Kyle Larson are looking to cement their place in the championship four.

This riles up the task to make it into the cutline, and with no option other than to win, Elliott faces a tough challenge to beat all odds and make his bid to enter the final four.

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Chase Elliott is ready to take on the do-or-die race at the Martinsville Speedway

Hendrick Motorsports' Chase Elliott before the NASCAR Cup Series Xfinity 500 Practice at Martinsville Speedway - Source: Imagn

Winning a must-win race is not for everybody, and Chase Elliott has experience in doing so. Many might think that the pressure might get to the 2020 Cup Series champion, but the Dawsonville-born driver thinks otherwise.

The 29-year-old was gushing with excitement and said ahead of the race weekend (via NBC Sports):

"I’m super excited about it. This weekend is just a lot of fun, really, from my perspective, whether we’re 10 points out, 30 points out, 150 points out. I don’t care. I’m looking forward to it... I think this is a good opportunity to keep things really simple for us. Go out and perform at as high a level as we can. Think we’re very capable, and I look forward to whatever (Sunday) brings."

Apart from Elliott, regular season champion William Byron, reigning Cup Series champion Joey Logano, and Ryan Blaney are also below the cutline heading into the Xfinity 500.

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Edited by Geetansh Pasricha