Chase Elliott Calls Out NASCAR Community’s Playoff Misconceptions With Harsh Reality Check

After the Southern 500 at Darlington, the opening salvo of the Cup Series playoffs, Chase Elliott sits 11th in the standings, with a slim nine-point cushion above the cut line heading into Gateway and Bristol. That spot leaves him locked in for now, but not safe from the slightest mishap. His teammates, William Byron and Kyle Larson, have built more stable margins, while Chase Elliott is sitting closer to the edge. And as questions about his playoff hopes keep rising, Chase Elliott clears out the noise and has doubled down on his own postseason performance.

Speaking to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Chase Elliott said, “One thing I noticed in the questions that I get asked is, so often I think the playoffs get lumped into this one thing. And it’s not one thing; it’s two plus calendar months of the year, it’s ten races. I mean, that’s enough time to be bad, good, and then bad again, or vice versa. There’s just a lot of racing in the final ten that I don’t think people realize just how much racing that is, and how much can change throughout that period of time.” 

Darlington wasn’t a disaster for Chase Elliott, but it sure didn’t do him any favors. Qualified 21st, he slogged through the stages with finishes in the teens, and eventually clawed up to 17th by race end. That meant no stage wins, no flashy late-race surge, just a steady grind, equal parts respectable and underwhelming. Meanwhile, his Hendrick Motorsports teammates also had a rough night. Kyle Larson finished 19th but collected some stage points, while Byron wound up 21st, and Alex Bowman was hit by a 40-second delay on pit road and ended up finishing 31st.

The No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports driver added, “This has been and always will be just like all other sports, is what have you done lately type thing. And narratives can change fast, and it’s really up to the drivers and teams to change that for the better, for yourself and your group. So it’s fun to talk about, and that’s all good and great. But until you get there and you get your report card, nobody really knows.

Elliott’s in a fierce, multi-server playoff slice. He has got tracks tailor-made for a comeback, but he also needs to navigate around the landmines, from superspeedways and strategy misfires. Just one recent win and a mixed playoff track record, he needs to balance consistency with aggression. One locked-in Talladega result could flip the script, especially if he then carries his momentum to Texas, or Atlanta, having won on all four tracks mentioned above, but to get there, he will need to brave the storms of Illinois and Bristol and a few other races in between.

But nine points above the cut line isn’t doom, but it is flirting with it. One bad pitstop, one skipped stage, or a caution at the wrong time, and Elliott could find himself in jittery bubble land. Still, his model projection through SwapRounds suggests he just needs one solid performance and no disasters over the next two races to advance. But the Darlington disaster made the hatred lie with his crew chief, Alan Gustafson. And Elliott just doubled down in defense of his longtime right-hand man.

Chase Elliott looks forward to racing at Gateway amid playoff pressure

With critics from some corners of the NASCAR fan base throwing in on Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Alan Gustafson, Elliott has come to his longtime colleague’s defense. Elliott’s race was underwhelming rather than catastrophic, but a series of missteps and frustration also marked it. He had an on-track run with Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar, who didn’t hold back on the team radio afterwards. Strategy didn’t help matters either. A long-run gamble backfired when a caution came out at the worst possible moment, costing the No. 9 team valuable track position and momentum.

However, Elliott isn’t pointing any fingers. He said, “Just came in and had an issue on pit road, had to put our heads down and grind out a top last. Just keep pushing at it. It’s been a long night for sure. We’ve got to put our heads together to try to figure out how to be better at Gateway and how to go faster.” Despite this being his fifth finish outside the top 10 in the last six races, Elliott refused to shift blame onto Gustafson. The two have worked together since Elliott’s rookie Cup season in 2016 and have even won the 2020 Cup Series championship.

Looking ahead, the team now turns its attention to World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, hoping to regroup momentum before the final round of 16 showdown at Bristol. Gateway hasn’t been kind to Elliott in the past; his previous two starts there yielded finishes of 21st and 13th, and Hendrick Motorsports as a whole is still searching for its first win at the Illinois track since it joined the calendar in 2022.

For Elliott and Gustafson, the next race could be viable. The margin for error is shrinking, the pressure is rising, and their response to Gateway may well define their 2025 playoff run. But if there is one thing Elliott made clear here in Darlington, it is that he is not jumping, and he is not about to let her rough night shake his trust in the people beside him.