Chase Elliott has been out of action for the past few races. This comes after the 2020 Cup Series champion was involved in a snowboarding accident and broke his leg. Of course, this gave Hendrick Motorsports a massive headache and they signed Josh Berry as his replacement. However, Berry will not be competing for HMS at the Circuit of the Americas this weekend. Four times instead IMSA SportsCar Championship Winner Jordan Taylor will drive the #9 car.

Taylor recently spoke about the team’s expectations for the weekend. Taylor told HendrickMotorsports.com, “I think a top 10 would be a really big day. There are so many items that you can take out of the competition. So many things I’m not used to with pit lane procedures, restart rules and things like that. There are a lot of things we learn along the way.

“Even though we have decent pace, there are so many other elements that we need to get right to be competitive and to be at the front.”

What to expect from Taylor and Hendrick Motorsports at COTA?

Compared to the last two tracks, this is a track where Chevrolet usually does well. In fact, Elliott won the first race at the venue while Ross Chastain triumphed last year. Of course, you would expect the Hendrick Motorsports contingent to do well on track. Kyle Larson is the 2021 Cup champion and a strong contender, Alex Bowman is no slouch either and William Byron has already had two wins this season.

Of course, as a rookie in the league, you can hardly expect Jordan Taylor to fight for victory. However, the #9 Chevy is a fast car so a decent result could well be a possibility. It would also be interesting to see how Taylor stacks up against his “rookies” Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button.

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