NASCAR analysts are a divided lot nowadays. Their biggest challenge? Coming to a consensus about Chase Elliott’s performance. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has secured five top-10s in the last seven races. Which should be good in most people’s books. But fans are getting restless and increasingly unhappy with him. Good as they are, they feel these results aren’t reflective of the driver he once used to be.
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Veteran reporter Bob Pockrass thinks this is a tad unfair. He pointed out these top-10 finishes in a recent post on X and claimed that there was no reason to panic over Elliott. Not many fans agreed with him. One said, “Chase just doesn’t have the desire to win anymore, at least not as much as his teammates. He’s content just to ride around.”
His teammates at HMS have been putting up good shows, too. Kyle Larson and William Byron have both won races this year. Alex Bowman has led multiple laps and is shaping up for a good season. Elliott is clearly the odd one out in the camp.
Another fan believes that this is not because of his skill but because of the performance of his #9 Chevrolet ZL1. The comment read, “The concern personally, with Chase, is the lack of winning speed compared to his teammates.”
In his last seven races, Elliott has finished: 4th, 10th, 10th, 18th, 4th, 8th, 15th … five top-10s in last seven races. Now top-10s aren’t necessarily the goal, but don’t see any reason to panic. https://t.co/0uRa7hdRIf
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) April 15, 2025
Yet another fan was surprised at how the mainstream media isn’t paying enough attention to Elliott’s mediocre run at the moment. They wrote, “The fact that no one with a voice in NASCAR media wants to talk about the overall decline of the 9 car. I’m the biggest Elliott fan you’ll find, but something is way off with this current team.”
The last time he fulfilled fan expectations was in 2022. He did a good enough job to impress them with the Next Gen car. One fan pointed this out, “The reason to panic is because the driver hasn’t been remotely competitive since 2022, and the team can’t account for his regression.” This inexplicable decline is what has them worried.
But Elliott’s former boss and mentor, Dale Earnhardt Jr., does not think so.
Speaking on Dale Jr. Download, Junior said that neither Elliott nor his crew chief would be happy with the results thus far, but personally, he is. He reasoned by explaining how the snowboarding accident that Elliott suffered in 2023 set him back.
“For a while, it was really a struggle,” Dale said.
“Now, this year, I am starting to see that car run like you expect it to. They still have some tough days. Bristol, they were probably disappointed, for sure not to be in the top 10… I know he’s probably disappointed, but I think they have improved and are heading in the right direction.”
These words of confidence from Dale Earnhardt Jr. ought to mean a lot to Elliott. A visit to Victory Lane at this point of the year will go a long way in silencing the criticism against him. Hopefully, it will come at the Talladega Superspeedway.
