Last season marked a comeback for Chase Elliott after a winless 2023. The #9 Chevrolet driver had one win but performed consistently (11 top-5 and 19 top-10 finishes) to reach the playoffs and secure seventh place in the final standings. However, things have again been difficult for him this season, something Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon acknowledged as well.
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Elliot started 2025 with a victory at the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. But since then he has been plagued by penalties. After navigating 109 races with only one speeding penalty, Elliott has incurred two in the last five Cup Series races. To add insult to injury, his team was penalized at Homestead-Miami for a rare infraction.
Elliott began the race from a less-than-ideal position — 18th on the grid. And just as he was beginning to build momentum, the #9 driver was hit with a severe and rarely used penalty by NASCAR officials. He was charged for not entering the pit road in single file.
Elliott incurred the penalty while trying to sidestep Austin Cindric. He veered left and pulled alongside the #2 car. Although replays suggested he didn’t fully relinquish the position as he had claimed, the situation escalated when Elliott made contact with Cindric’s teammate, Ryan Blaney, after cutting in front of his #12 car.
The incident drew NASCAR’s ire as Elliott entered pit road, leading to his relegation to the back for the restart of the final stage. That left both him and his team deeply frustrated.
Gordon acknowledged that the recent weeks had been challenging for the #9 team. However, he highlighted their strength, stating that Elliott and Co. have a lot of depth and belief in each other. Gordon then elaborated on the culture of excellence within Hendrick Motorsports.
“It’s a high standard at Hendrick, what everybody brings like the #5 team did today. And so a lot of times you’re really measuring yourself against the best that there are out there, and a lot of times that’s right in your own stable. So if you’re not achieving what you want to achieve, then you know you’ve got to go to work, and you know that you’re not meeting expectations,” explained Gordon.
He then addressed the #9 team’s frustrations, remarking, “Those guys have high expectations, Alan, Chase. It’s not unusual for them to get down a little bit on, ‘Hey, this isn’t good enough,’ but I’ve seen them react really well and positively to that too.”
Despite the hurdles, Gordon remained optimistic about Elliott’s team showcasing stronger performances on their preferred tracks.
Meanwhile, Elliott, visibly frustrated over the contested penalty, immediately defended his actions. “There was zero advantage there,” he stated.
“I was simply trying not to hit the guy. Man, I don’t know what they want. I don’t know what to do any different. They all checked up. I moved to the left to not run in the back of someone and then I gave them the spot back. That’s a very reasonable thing,” added Elliott.
Currently standing sixth in the driver standings, Elliott has bagged one top-5 and two top-10 finishes in the season’s first six races. However, he has yet to get back to the form that has made him a fan favorite.
