Elliott feels car is 'better as a whole,' but work remains

Chase Elliott backed up his strong performance last weekend in New Hampshire with another top showing Sunday afternoon at Pocono Raceway. But he wasn’t ready to celebrate the recent strength of the No. 9 team.

“We ran here good in the spring too and went to Michigan and struggled again,” Elliott told RACER. “So, I don’t think we’re out of the weeds yet, but it was a good effort today.”

After finishing 10th a month ago at Pocono, Elliott went and finished ninth in the rain-shortened race at Michigan.

Elliott finished seventh in the Gander Outdoors 400, picking up his second stage win of the season (the first being last weekend). Driving past Denny Hamlin on Lap 40, Elliott led the final 14 laps of stage one.

In the last two weeks, Elliott has led a total of 37 laps, more than what he had led in the previous 18 races combined: 19.

“Think a little bit of everything,” Elliott said of where the sudden uptick in speed has come from. “I don’t know why some racetracks seem to be more suitable for what we have, and some don’t. I do think we’re better as a whole, but I think we still have some work to do.”