Can Austin Cindric, Chase Elliott Take Advantage at COTA?

1. Can COTA Provide Chase Elliott and Austin Cindric a Shot in the Arm?

If drivers such as Chase Elliott and Austin Cindric have the illness of a slower-than-desired start to the season, then this weekend’s stop at Circuit of the Americas may as well be like pulling up to an after-hours primary care clinic.

Indeed, for drivers like Elliott and Cindric, COTA stands as a place where both can get things well on the road to recovery. Elliott’s had a quietly solid points season so far, good for sixth overall. That’s good, but what’s not good is only one top 10 and no top fives. That’d make mid-tier teams ecstatic.

For an organization like Hendrick Motorsports? Not so much.

And then there’s Cindric.

Like Elliott, he’s a proven performer on road courses with NASCAR Xfinity Series wins on five different road courses.

This weekend could not be more well-timed for Cindric, currently 21st in the standings. Cindric has proven in the past that he has the talent to produce, but sometimes things can get in a rut and not line up right. The problem for the driver of the No. 2 car is that coming off one non-playoff season, he can ill afford to experience the same. If he does, dreaded hot seat talk could make its way to the stove’s burner.

If either Elliott or Cindric are to give their seasons a shot in the arm, this weekend may be the best chance given that there won’t be another road course event until June at Sonoma Raceway.

2. Is the Panic Button Looming at RCR?

Sure, last season was not the deep postseason push that fans of Kyle Busch were accustomed to, but a lot of equity was built up by what the driver did in his first year with Richard Childress Racing. For the first season in a while, a driver who called the Welcome, N.C. shop for them home won multiple times in a season.

For nostalgic fans of the old days of RCR, it likely did their heart good to see the organization doing well.

Yes, Busch won three times, but none came in the NASCAR Cup Series after a June win at Worldwide Technology Raceway. It’s fair to say that between Busch not making it past last year’s Round of 12 and Austin Dillon not making it into the postseason, that the latter half of 2023 was a disappointment at RCR.

Busch got a nice jolt to start this year on restrictor-plate tracks, notably coming in third in Atlanta Motor Speedway’s thrilling three-wide finish, but has fared no better than 22nd since then, adding up to…