Chase Elliott won’t be racing for the title at the Phoenix Raceway on November 2 after failing to win the penultimate race of the 2025 Cup Series season at Martinsville on Sunday. The Hendrick Motorsports driver faced disappointment despite finishing in third place since he failed to outduel his teammate, William Byron, and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney.
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While it was an underwhelming moment after what had been a largely positive season, Elliott did not fail to give credit where it was due.
He said in his post-race interview, “Just came up a little short. It was a good effort. Really proud of the No. 5 throughout the week and everybody at the shop for bringing their very best.”
“I thought that we showed signs of life there at different times. Got caught a lap down in that cycle. That really hurt us, but it ultimately just needed to be a little better. A tick better.” He finished fourth in Stage 1 and Stage 2, proving that he had a good amount of speed in his car. But that just simply wasn’t enough at the end of the day.
.@chaseelliott is proud of the speed the team has been showing despite missing the cut for Phoenix. #NASCAR
Presenting Partner: @MyPlaceHotels pic.twitter.com/asJthf67ah— Frontstretch (@Frontstretch) October 26, 2025
He was able to nab third place from Ross Chastain in the closing laps. This is the third year in a row that Elliott has failed to make the Championship 4. Notably, he made three straight visits to the Phoenix finale from 2020 to 2022. 2025 has been a good comeback for the popular driver with multiple wins. This can be a good base for him to build the 2026 season on.
Elliott wants one of his teammates to win the championship
Elliott’s teammates, William Byron and Kyle Larson, have made it into the Championship 4 alongside Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin. Expressing strong pride in how he and his No. 9 team performed all year long, Elliott also wished that either Byron or Larson would end up lifting the 2025 Cup Series trophy.
He said, “I hate it. We’ve been here, been on both sides of the fence. This is never fun, but we had some of our best races over the last month, I felt like, pace-wise, which I think is encouraging going into next year. I hate that we have to wait a year, again, for the opportunity, but proud of the fight, and hopefully one of the two guys can get it done next week.”
Byron and Larson will be going against Briscoe and Hamlin, who are Joe Gibbs Racing teammates. Apart from the battle of teams, it will also be a battle of OEMs as Chevrolet and Toyota try to make their drivers champions. The finale will go down at 3 p.m. ET on November 2.
