In last weekend’s Kansas race, a Toyota car was primed to win. Denny Hamlin swept both stage wins and led a race-best 159 laps in his No. 11 Toyota. Then, Bubba Wallace led the race on the final laps, keen on replicating his 2022 glory in Kansas. If the 23XI Racing driver had turned that goal into reality, Chase Elliott would be in the same pitfall of points as the last two years. But to the No. 9 Chevrolet team’s advantage, none of the Toyotas could win.

Hamlin and Wallace initiated door-to-door contact, allowing Chase Elliott room to zoom ahead and grab the victory. Yet even as the Hendrick Motorsports star enjoyed barbecue ribs and champagne after winning in Kansas, he needs to focus on the next playoff race at the Charlotte Roval. Yet the pressure is significantly less now.

Chase Elliott’s team can take a breather for now

From 2018 to 2022, Chase Elliott was the only driver to clinch multiple wins. In the opening season of the Next-Gen era, he fetched a series-leading five wins. But from 2023 onwards, that trophy hunt hit the pause button. From incurring a snowboarding injury to suffering a 42-race winless streak, Elliott went through a slumber. In 2024, he ranked third in total points scored but had only one victory, at Texas Motor Speedway. In 2025, Elliott personified consistency, never finishing beyond the top 20 in every race until Watkins Glen. Now, however, the 2020 Cup Series champion can bank on more than just points and consistency.

Up next is the Bank of America ROVAL 400 race, the elimination race of the Round of 12. While other Cup Series teams, especially those below the cutline, will brace for impact, the No. 9 HMS team can take a breather. And Chase Elliott‘s crew chief, Alan Gustafson, compared the brighter situation to the last two seasons’ playoffs. He told Sirius XM NASCAR, “The last two years, we’ve had to race our way in on points…This year, we know what we’re gonna do, we don’t have to worry about any of that…We can do whatever we wanna do, and it’s gonna have no impact on the fact that we’ve transferred to the next round.” 

What is more, Chase Elliott has already won twice at the Roval. Yet challenges can spring up unexpectedly at the 17-mile, 2.28-mile hybrid road course, like when Elliott ran into the tire barrier before winning in 2019. So Alan Gustafson is approaching the race cautiously. “At the Roval it’s like a distinct difference in strategy, you have to either…go for the win and run the stages on points. We had to do the latter for the last couple of years.” However, the will to win is there no matter what. Gustafson continued, “Excited about the chance to be aggressive there. I think we’re in a position that any competitor moving into the Round of 8, to win…you know, to keep that focus, to strictly win the race is a good thing.”

While Alan Gustafson comfortably places his focus on the Charlotte Roval, his driver has his eyes on another, more treacherous track.

Relying on Lady Luck

Granted, Chase Elliott has locked his seat in the Round of 8 along with Ryan Blaney. However, the next round hosts probably the most unpredictable race in the playoffs. After Las Vegas, Cup Series drivers will head to Talladega Superspeedway, notorious for unforeseen wrecks and clashes. In 2024, Talladega saw a gigantic ‘Big’ one engulfing around 28 race cars in a smoking crash. “That deal’s going to be about who doesn’t crash, I think, at the end of the day,” Elliott said. He admitted, “The big one’s just Talladega and what’s going to happen there, and whether or not we can get through the mess. And I feel like if we can do that, we have a real shot to make it to Phoenix.”

At this late stage in the season, Chase Elliott believes the primary goal is on “buying yourself and your team more time.” The deeper you go into the playoffs, “the more opportunities you have, and you just never know what can happen. And anybody in that top eight can get hot for a couple of weeks. And I think we’re capable of doing that too.”

For now, Chase Elliott is scaling back to his mode of consistency, since Charlotte Roval presents little pressure. He said, “I would like to get five more points, and that would be the first goal that I have in mind. You probably know me well enough to know I’m a week-to-week person. And my mindset right now is, how can I position our team to get five more points this week? And that’s going to do nothing but just help us when we get to Vegas.”

Evidently, Chase Elliott is in a mood to dominate the championship conversation. Let’s wait and see how far he goes with that conviction.