Chase Elliott Playing with House Money

1. Does Losing the Pressure to Win Make the No. 9 More Dangerous?

Hang around any coach for a good while, and they will tell you something to the effect of how winning solves all problems. Or as one said to me many years ago: “Losing doesn’t build character. Winning builds character.”

Need another example? Just check in this week with Chase Elliott and the No. 9 team. Many people, including this column at times, mused if this team had what it took to match the level of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and William Byron. And to be fair, Larson had the car to beat early prior to wheel problems at Texas Motor Speedway.

I mean, if the No. 9 team had a mascot, there may have been calls to replace it if Elliott languished much longer without a win.

All of that is over with now. The pressure to win? That’s over and done. When you win early on at a track where it’s not a drafting track or a road course, it’s what I’d call proof of concept. It backs up that whatever adjustments you made in the off-season are now working.

Elliott has that. And now, with a win in his pocket, Elliott is playing with house money. The pressure to get to the playoffs? It’s not even May and that task is taken care of.

With tracks coming up soon that Elliott has been good at, such as Talladega Superspeedway and Dover Motor Speedway, it would be a shock for Texas to be the Georgia driver’s only win of the spring.

2. Texas’ Future Can’t be Dictated by Emotion

I have no crystal ball, so I have no idea if the 2025 NASCAR schedule will have Texas Motor Speedway on it, but my wager would be that it would be a yes.

The key, however, is to not let rushes of emotion rule the day.

Bubba Wallace, perhaps in jest, noted that the track that was once the shiny and sparkling jewel of the Speedway Motorsports empire is safe for a long time given that the sport’s most popular driver won there.

Saturday’s (April 13) NASCAR Xfinity Series finish between Sam Mayer and Ryan Sieg was one that will talked about for a long time.

None of that, though, changes the fact that the track is at a crossroads. Could a repave improve racing? Does Speedway Motorsports take the easy way out and just configure it…