NASCAR Cup Series
Dale Jr. praises Chase Elliott, predicts four race wins this season
NASCAR Cup Series

Dale Jr. praises Chase Elliott, predicts four race wins this season

Published Mar. 25, 2017 9:29 a.m. ET

The most consistent Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet through the first four races has been Chase Elliott's No. 24 car.

While he's been up-front consistently, he's still searching for his first Cup Series victory.

His HMS teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. has the utmost confidence that Elliott will get that first win, plus more this season.

https://twitter.com/DaleJr/status/845118713950945280

Elliott reacted to the praise from Dale Jr. during media availability Friday at Auto Club Speedway.

“I hope Dale is right. That’s all I know. That’s awesome," Elliott said. "I appreciate the kind words, for sure. I think we’ve learned a lot throughout the season last year as a group. And as an organization, we’ve fired off well this year. It’s not perfect, but it’s good. And I think we have room to improve. But, I hope Dale is right. That’s all I have to say about that.”

While Earnhardt is undoubtedly sending some encouraging words his teammate's direction, he's proven he has an eye for talent.

Through the first four races of the season, Elliott has impressed with two top-five finishes, a lack of fuel from a Daytona 500 win, and a dominant car that faded late at Las Vegas.

The sophomore driver has a ton of confidence as the Monster Energy Series runs at Auto Club where Elliott finished sixth in his only start at the track last year.

With solid results in the stages, Elliott trails Kyle Larson by 13 points for the points lead but has his focus on grabbing more playoff points.

“It’s awesome. Obviously, it’s really early in the season, so it’s hard to read into that a whole lot," Elliott said. "The regular season points are just not as important as they once were. And those championship points that you can earn throughout the season with a stage win or a race win are going to be far more important than where you stack up on a weekly/regular season points basis.

"I would much rather be toward the top of that than towards the bottom. I think if we can continue to have strong runs, and hopefully, we can stay there and pick-up some positions and try to stay there as long as possible. Most importantly try to get into the playoffs at the end of the year and be strong when that rolls around. Hopefully, we can do that. That’s the most important thing.”

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