Dr. Diandra: Chase Elliott good in the Duels — which is bad for the Daytona 500

Chase Elliott seems to be doing everything right in pursuit of winning his first Daytona 500.

He’s got three superspeedway wins: Talladega (twice) and 2022’s second race at the converted Atlanta Motor Speedway.

His team, Hendrick Motorsports, has won eight Daytona 500s. If Elliott or one of his teammates wins Sunday, HMS will tie Petty Enterprises for most Daytona 500 trophies.

In addition to those eight wins, the 132 drivers who have run the Daytona 500 in a Hendrick Motorsports car have:

Elliott’s manufacturer, Chevrolet, has the most Daytona 500 wins of any make with 24.

But none of that has translated into a win for Elliott or his teammates Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman and William Byron.

Delving into the timeline shows the magnitude of Elliott’s challenges. The table below shows Hendrick Motorsports’ Daytona 500 wins.

HMS last won a Daytona 500 in 2014. The team has won only two of the last 16 Daytona 500s and the drivers who took home those trophies no longer race for the team.

Chevrolet has won only one of the last eight Daytona 500s — with Richard Childress Racing — and three of the last 12.

The current HMS drivers have 19 Daytona 500 starts without a win. Elliott came closest to winning with a second-place finish in 2021. The next-best results are 10th-place finishes by Elliott (2022) and Kyle Larson (2021).

The top two finishers in single-car qualifying secure the first and second starting spots for the Daytona 500. They also start from the pole in their respective Duels.

Hendrick Motorsports has 16 Duel wins, 14 second-position finishes, 10 third-place finishes and 11 fourth-places. Unlike wins, this stat has continued with the current generation of drivers.

This dominance in speed should be a positive, right?

It