Chase Elliott hopes to turn things around after winless NASCAR season

"It was a high school injury type of thing," the 28-year-old said.

After returning from the broken leg last year, things never started to click in a significant way.

"We never got in a good rhythm," Elliott said. "I did think toward the end of the year, we were thinking about the right things. We started to identify some areas that we needed to work through. It would have been nice to have a couple more weeks at the end of the year to keep working.

"But nonetheless, I think a lot of those things are going to start to carry over. As we go into this year, we need to keep our heads down. It's a marathon and we understood that and we're ready to get back to work."

Things didn't start all that great, not just for Elliott but NASCAR, when the Busch Light Clash at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum was moved up a day on just hours notice to avoid the atmospheric river that hit Southern California two weeks ago. The race was run in front of just a smattering of fans as Elliott finished 22nd of 23 cars, having issues with his steering.

NASCAR will likely be dealing with weather for Sunday's Daytona 500 with rain expected to start Saturday and continue throughout the day Sunday. The Weather Channel lists the chance of rain in Daytona Beach on Sunday at 99%. But it is Florida and things change.

Winning the Daytona 500 is notably absent from Chase Elliott's nine-year resume. He has won the pole twice. Last year he finished 38th.

"It would be nice to be done racing and say you've won the Daytona 500," Chase Elliott said. "I think it would be really cool."

Bill downplays his role in Chase's success.

"You're dealing with a lot of pressure and a lot of different things and sometimes you just have to get through it and deal with it in your own way and learn from your mistakes," Bill Elliott said at a NASCAR news conference in 2018. "But at the end of the day you still have to figure it out in your own head."

But Bill did give his son some off-track advice that may also help explain their popularity.

"I needed to put things in perspective," he said. "I always said there is a time for racing, there is a time for fans, there is a time for media and there is a time for family and you have to segment it out so you can deal with it."

The Elliotts are one of three families where the father and son each won a Cup championship. Bill won the year-long series in 1988 and Chase in 2020. They join Lee and Richard Petty and Ned and Dale Jarrett.

Chase covets that second title if for no other reason than to pass his father.

"I would love to one up him, no doubt, for sure," Chase Elliott said. "I'd love to catch him in wins [he's behind 44 to 18], I'd love to one up him in championships. I think we have a great opportunity to do that. That's a box that I'd love to check, for sure. What that would be like, I don't know, I haven't achieved it but I'd have to imagine it would be a really cool thing to talk about and to share. Hopefully we can get there."

The first step could come on Sunday. Or maybe Monday.