Chase Elliott is in the thick of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, but two insiders are not sure if he will be one of the four drivers competing in the Championship 4. On The Teardown podcast, Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic discussed Elliott’s chances of competing in the championship race at Phoenix Raceway in November.

“They did what they needed to do, I guess,” Gluck said about Elliott finishing ninth in the Kansas race on Sunday. “I think he has three top 10s in four starts here to open the playoffs all except for Watkins Glenn. …But you look at the points and you’re like, ‘Well, you know I guess they’re alright, but he’s only plus four. That’s another mysterious one to me where you keep sort of thinking they’re gonna be okay and they’re gonna hit on something and he’s gonna have this breakout races and he’s gonna win his way in.

“He’s certainly a threat, but am I going to be like ‘Oh year, he’s going to the final four. Oh, Chase Elliott.’ There’s very few people I can say that about at this point.”

Is there ‘something missing’ with Chase Elliott

Bianchi agreed with Gluck, saying he needs to take that next step to give himself a chance to win the championship. “I think this is a microcosm of the year where they’re in there and they’re in the mix and you feel like you kind of got acknowledged like, ‘Hey, the numbers say this.’ They’re second or third in the points all regular season, even leading a few weeks,” Bianchi said.

“You’re like, ‘Yeah they’re good, but they’re not.’ There’s still something missing. They’re not leading a bunch of laps, they’re not winning stages, they’re not doing the things that I look for out of a team that’s going to win a championship. But they’re still in the mix, they’re doing just enough to get by. I feel like that was the kind of thing today. Wasn’t a great day, but they left here with a top 10 on a day when everything else went haywire for just about everybody else.”

Elliott won one race during the regular season, which was the Texas Cup Series race. Along with the victory, Elliott earned seven top-five finishes and 12 top-10 finishes before the playoffs began.

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