Kelly Crandall

Jan 30, 2026, 01:32 PM ET

Chase Elliott finds the lens through which his performance is viewed, compared to what he has felt and lived, interesting.

Take the 2025 season. Elliott and his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports team kicked things off by winning the exhibition event at Bowman Gray Stadium, a feat he will look to repeat Sunday. By season’s end, while the numbers looked similar to his 2024 season with 19 top-10 finishes and 11 top-five finishes, cumulatively, Elliott had put together one of his better seasons since 2022, when looking at laps led and having multiple race wins.

"Obviously, the Clash went really well, which doesn’t have anything to do with the numbers," Elliott told ESPN. "But that part went well. I thought some of the opening speedway races went well. Truthfully, I think some of the numbers were reflected by the fact that we didn’t get caught up in the wrecks. And that skews things, right, when you have fewer numbers there early in the season.

"I really didn’t feel like our performance got to its peak until probably the last month or month and a half of the season. That’s when I felt like, ‘Hey, we’re leading some laps and just more competitive and giving ourselves more opportunities.’"

And that is where the disconnect comes in between what it looks like to the outside and how Elliott says things are going. NASCAR’s most popular driver and 2020 series champion, like his father, former driver and champion Bill Elliott, is not one to get too high or too low. Chase Elliott is straightforward in his conversations and has never seemed to get caught up in the stat sheet – whether in his favor or not.

Some would look at how his output has not been the same since he suffered a fractured tibia in a skiing accident early in the 2023 season. Elliott, however, would tell you that he started falling behind at the end of 2022 (when it became clear what it took to drive the Next Gen car), and it’s taken some time to right the ship. Or one might point out that things seemed to go well for the team last year, and Elliott counters with how he didn’t feel it performed to its standards until the end of the year.

So the most critical part of the equation for Elliott does not seem to be the stat sheet. It’s the feeling that he and his team are having respectable performances, ones that would put Elliott closer to the form he showed in 2018 through 2022, when he was winning multiple races a season.

"I thought we were getting closer, for sure," said Elliott of that happening at the end of 2025. "You always have high expectations of yourself and of your team, so it’s always tough for me to answer that. I guess defining form, that’s tough. It’s always a ‘What have you done lately?’ That’s in life and certainly in sports.

"It’s more about putting yourself in position consistently and every week than it is the actual win. You’re going to get your turn. You will get your opportunity. It’s not always going to work out for you. ... But if you put yourself there often enough, it will, and that’s more of what I want to see and what our definition of being in form is."

Jeff Gordon, a four-time Cup Series champion and now the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, understands the expectations that come with driving for the powerhouse organization. He also understands, whether it’s right or wrong, that drivers such as Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Elliott, who have popularity and a famous last name, are always going to be expected to do more.

But whereas Gordon gives Elliott and crew chief Alan Gustafson credit for being two guys in the garage capable of tuning out the noise, he acknowledged seeing a different version of Elliott last year.

"More engaged, stepping in, elevating the team, the information he’s bringing and really feeling like this is home for him," Gordon said. "I tell him all the time, ‘You’re a franchise guy. This team is your team.’ He and Alan have a very powerful relationship. Alan is an incredibly talented guy, and I think sometimes it just takes getting all the right pieces in place at the right times.

"But I was very impressed with what they did last year. I think it was a new look and perspective of their commitment to one another, to what they need to do, the details of what it takes to push yourself, push the cars and what our competitors are doing."

On the notion of the last part of the season being Elliott’s best, Gordon shared the driver’s sentiment that the finale at Phoenix Raceway displayed that. Elliott led 30 laps and finished 10th, but Gordon, who was sitting on the No. 9 pit box, felt Elliott was the best Hendrick car that day based on how he moved throughout the field.

"When you put a race like that together, and you do that over enough races, it builds confidence," Gordon said. "And when you have the final race of the season go like that, even though you’re not in the championship hunt, you build on that over the offseason."

The one thing Elliott supporters would love to see carry over into 2026 is multiple race wins. Elliott won three times last year, including the Bowman Gray triumph (which did not award points). But his two points-paying victories, at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway, pushed him over the hump of earning multiple wins in a single season for the first time since 2022.

Elliott has three victories in the past two seasons. A disappointing fall off after he quickly racked up 18 in five seasons (2018 to 2022).

"It’s been a lot of hard work," Elliott said. "There’s been a lot of really bad weekends and days that you go home just miserable, and you just want to, not throw in the towel, but figure it out. And I’m not even saying figure it out tomorrow, but one step. One step at a time.

"Look, Atlanta was a speedway race. Kansas, I thought we were actually really competitive throughout the day ... and for that, I can be proud. We were in the picture and I can be super proud of that, of the efforts, and of the whole thing. So, I look for more weekends like that."

NASCAR has reintroduced the Chase format this season as the way to crown its champion. The final 10 races will take the top 16 drivers in the standings and reset the field for championship contention. A race win also means more, as 15 more points will be awarded for such a triumph.

Does a format change mean it’s more important than ever for a driver to come out of the gate strong, such as winning at Bowman Gray and carrying that into the year? With as long a season as NASCAR has, there are bound to be plenty of ups and downs. Elliott is one of those who believes it will all average itself out and hopes that includes his team being in the picture when the Chase comes around.

"The really good drivers and teams," Elliott said, "are always going to find their way to where they belong."