NASCAR'S Chase Elliott hoping to right wrongs at...

Though he missed NASCAR‘s first visit to Richmond Raceway this season, fan favorite Chase Elliott is back in the commonwealth this weekend for the Cook Out 400 Cup Series race.

Coming off a 10th-place finish at Pocono, Elliott sits 21st in the championship standings with 399 points and has yet to win this season. Only the top 16 qualify for the playoffs, which begin Sept. 3 at Darlington Raceway. With five races left in the regular season, Elliott needs a win, and Sunday’s race is one of his last chances to get it.

“I’ve said that we need to win to get back in since I came back,” said Elliott, referencing a broken leg he suffered in early March while snowboarding. He missed six races recovering and then missed another in Madison, Ill., because of a suspension. “I don’t look at that any different today than when I first came back.”

This weekend, that means racing on what Elliott described as “the most boring racetrack ever to drive on.”

Although Richmond Raceway hasn’t traditionally been his strongest track, he’s looking to get past that. He’s looking to right wrongs.

“Hopefully this weekend is a hit rather than a miss,” Elliott said, “and we can get out of there with a win.”

Elliott said he’s excited to race in Richmond again and interact with the faithful in RVA. He’ll be at the Midway section of the track at noon Sunday to take part in a Q&A session, which he calls part of the NASCAR experience.

“NASCAR does a good job, I would say, in general of trying to include everyone at the racetrack,” Elliott said. “The way they’ve redone Richmond there has given people an even better opportunity to see things up close. And then ultimately have a continue to have a good opportunity to watch the race from from the stands or wherever it may be.”

The 2020 Cup Series champion sits 56 points out of a playoff spot heading into this weekend. He said he feels the same though as he did at the beginning of the year: his confidence hasn’t wavered.

“I feel good, honestly,” Elliott said. “This sport is going to be a little bit of a roller coaster sometimes, and you just have to ride it. There’s going to be days where everything goes your way. And there’s going to be times where it’s not. But I think the big thing to that is just ride the roller coaster.”

Elliott, named the Cup Series’ most popular driver the past five seasons, has made 14 starts at Richmond, with his best finish coming in 2018 at second. He has made the playoffs in each of the past seven seasons.

Elliott likes coming to Richmond, he said.

That “boring” track at the same time is sometimes tricky to get hold of, he added, which creates a challenges.