After qualifying last among his Hendrick Motorsports teammates for the final race of the Round of 16 in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, Chase Elliott is a driver with a clear plan for how to advance in the postseason.
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Ahead of this weekend’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Elliott gave media personnel a piece of his mind on how he anticipates his HMS teammates working together in the hunt for the championship title.
With Kyle Larson and William Byron finding themselves +60 and +39 points coming off last weekend’s race at Gateway, both Elliott and Alex Bowman are in a position where their performances at Bristol will dictate if they will advance to the Round of 12 or not.
Bowman finds himself in what is essentially a must-win situation, sitting 35 points below the cutoff. Elliott is 28 points clear of elimination ahead of this Saturday’s event. The No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro driver explained how it’s important for each driver to balance the fine line of helping a teammate while achieving his or her own goals as the playoffs heat up into the subsequent rounds.
“We have expectations that we put upon ourselves and of our individual teams that we want to go out and execute, and I understand that of them and their team. Fortunately, we have a good group and everyone understands that part of it. I think there’s definitely times where you have to be selfish, and that’s part of the deal,” said Elliott during an interview.
The 29-year-old also commented on how every Hendrick driver tries to balance this ‘each man for himself’ philosophy if and when possible, for any of the four teams from the organization. “There are opportunities where you can lend a hand, or at least not be a total jerk in certain situations. I think that just comes to general respect for your peers,” he added.
On top of that, Elliott didn’t limit his approach to his teammates at Hendrick Motorsports, but also extended his code of conduct to the rest of the drivers, depending on how much on-track respect they are willing to give him, which then he can offer back in return.
While that might be the ideal way to go racing, not only in the playoffs but during the regular season as well, it remains to be seen which drivers outside HMS think along the same lines as Elliott. More often than not, in the top division of stock car racing, tempers boil over as two or more drivers clash over what each believes is right, especially as the field inches closer to the Final 4 round.
With a qualifying effort of P16 ahead of Saturday’s race, the last among all his HMS teammates, all that remains for the Dawsonville native is to put his woes from the spring Bristol race behind him, where he struggled with overtaking after a substandard qualifying. He eventually finished in P15 during that race, which might be indicative of how things could go for the No. 9 if they are unable to find extra performance this time around.
