“Oh man, it couldn’t feel any better,” said Chase Elliott after conquering Texas Motor Speedway in 2024. His words carried the weight of a 42-race winless streak, and he celebrated in wild fashion, doing a Polish victory lap in tribute to the late Alan Kulwicki, who also worked with Elliott’s sponsor, Hooter’s. In 2025, Elliott enters Texas Motor Speedway again with a winless drought since that last Texas race hanging over his head. However, the 2020 Cup Series champion claims to have put his success behind him.
After the checkered flag dropped at Bowman Gray Stadium for the 2025 Clash, Chase Elliott emerged out of his car, triumphant. It was his first win (including non-points-paying races) since that Texas win and marked a glimmer of hope after a tumultuous 2024 playoff run that saw him narrowly miss out on a Championship 4 spot. However, he has not been able to capture that winning formula since then, and while the statistics of the 2025 season look grim on paper, Elliott isn’t reading too deep into it.
Chase Elliott is taking it one week at a time
Chase Elliott has just led 45 laps in the Cup Series this season! Yes, you read that right. The former champion has struggled to make his way to the lead, but this does not reflect his overall performance. Elliott has three top-5 and six top-10 finishes so far this season, so the speed is there, it’s just that the results are not reflecting it, and Elliott touched on this in conversation with FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass, saying, “The season’s still very early and that’s kinda why I get it, like, I’ve seen enough high spots to kinda give me hope and just the direction that we’ve gone in.” But is Chase Elliott using his 2024 Texas win as a blueprint for 2024?
Well, when asked by Bob Pockrass, “Going to Texas, is it frustrating or exciting, knowing that it’s the last place you won?” Elliott’s response was mature. The Hendrick Motorsports #9 said, “For me, I think that both, I guess. I would have loved to have had more points wins… I’ve kind of gotten to the point in my career where I’m not gonna sit there and zone in on Texas just because we had a good run there last year.”
Chase Elliott is not looking to be that driver who picks one track where they did well and hones in on it. He is more than that, and we have seen it, too. In 2022, Elliott won 5 races ranging from superspeedways to road courses, so he knows how to get it done anywhere. When it comes to relying on his methods from his last year at Texas, Elliott added, “I know as well as everyone else on our team, just because you had a good run somewhere the last time you went there doesn’t mean it’s gonna be the case when you go back.”
Chase Elliott’s last points win came at Texas. So does he come to the track excited because he knows this is where he got his most recent points win or frustrated because of that fact? His thoughts: @NASCARONFOX pic.twitter.com/Mx4CABo3aB
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) May 1, 2025
Despite his calm demeanor, results are critical for the #9 team. Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson already has two wins under his belt and sits second in points behind William Byron, who won his second consecutive Daytona 500 this year. Even Alex Bowman, often termed the ‘fourth Hendrick car,’ has a higher ‘best finish’ this season with a P2 at Homestead compared to Elliot’s best being a 4th place finish at COTA and Martinsville. But Elliott knows his pedigree; he is one of the most talented drivers on the grid and, despite the lack of a race win or stage win, he sits 4th in the standings. And watching him race, you can sense that all he needs is some confidence and a bit of luck to put together a winning run.
Instead of rueing his season so far and trying to replicate his win in 2024, Chase Elliott is using his shortcomings as a way to learn and improve. Elliott added, “I’m very much a week-to-week kinda guy as it pertains to our prep and our performance and what we have going on right now. Because I think that the lessons that we’ve learned lately are likely more applicable than those from 12+ months ago.”
So, with an unimpressive start to the season by his lofty standards, Elliott is raring to make a comeback, and he isn’t shying away from how much he has to improve.
Clash triumph signified nothing to Elliott
When Chase Elliott hoisted the Bill France Cup in 2020, it was a bold statement to the rest of the grid. He became the youngest Cup Series Champion since Jeff Gordon in 1995 at just 24 years old. Seasoned veterans like Denny Hamlin, who had been chasing the crown for 16 years at that point, couldn’t help but appreciate his achievement.
In 2025, Elliott faces an evident slump. His victory at Bowman Gray was great, but even he knows it means nothing in the grand scheme of things. Speaking to Forbes ahead of the race at Texas this weekend, Elliott said, “I knew how little that meant just because I’ve been on the other side of it. Even if you don’t have a good Clash, that doesn’t mean you’re going to start off bad. If you have a good Clash weekend, that doesn’t mean it’s all going to go good.” The Clash win was the first time Elliott conquered the preseason race, yet it prompted the start of his most scrutinized season yet.
However, he looks forward to working his sleeve off every day to get back to the summit of stock car racing, adding, “It’s been OK; I don’t think we’ve been spectacular by any stretch. I thought we had a good first four to five weeks, including the Clash. Nothing has been a gold star sticker besides the Clash weekend… We have a long season left, and I’m looking forward to the grind.”
The Clash is in the past. Texas is way back in the past. Those are wins that cannot penetrate Elliot’s mindset. All the Hendrick Motorsports driver wants to do his give his best, and he knows that his efforts will be rewarded eventually. Do you think Chase Elliott can redeem his season at Texas this weekend? Let us know in the comments!
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