In terms of race wins, Chase Elliott does not immediately strike as one of the favorites to win the Cup Series this season. He went without a win for the entirety of last season and has won only once this year. However, it’s the other stats that show how good a job the Hendrick Motorsports star has done. Jeff Gordon, vice chairman of HMS, has a good idea of that and believes that Elliott is a strong contender for the championship.
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In 26 races so far this season, Elliott has seven top-five and 12 top-10 finishes. Perhaps the most impressive stat is that he always finishes races regardless of the position. The #9 car has not made it to the checkered flag only once and that has been a theme ever since the Next-Gen era kicked off. Since 2022, he has had only eight DNFs (not inclusive of the races he missed last season due to injury).
“I think right now, if I just look at who’s the most solid championship-caliber team, I think it’s them because, OK, they might not have the laps led and the number of wins but they also don’t have the DNFs. They’re always in this third-to-seventh range almost every weekend and that’s strong,” Gordon explained.
Despite only winning six races with the Next Gen car so far in his career, Elliott has the best average finish since 2022 with 12.4. The difficult part is that he has never been able to convert this consistency into a championship victory. He has run well all season but the wins have been hard to come by.
Does Elliott have the edge in final playoff races?
Another thing that can help the driver of the #9 is that he has run well on a lot of the playoff tracks. Elliott has victories at tracks like the Charlotte Roval, Martinsville Speedway, and Phoenix Raceway. All three tracks are crucial for drivers looking to win the crown since they are part of the final few races of the year. But the HMS star has to qualify for that stage of the playoffs to compete for the championship on these tracks.
“I think there’s a lot of good race tracks for them and I think a lot of people don’t realize that if you go look at owner and driver over the last few years, those guys have been there. Remember, last year he was out of it on the driver side because of injury but that team was in that top four. I think they’re a real championship-caliber team this year.” Gordon added.
With Kyle Larson and William Byron taking a lot of the spotlight in HMS these days, Elliott doesn’t get as much of a shout as he used to. However, there is no denying that he is one of the sport’s most talented race car drivers today and certainly a threat for the Cup title.
