Chase Elliott had the car. He had the lead. He had the moment. And then, he pitted. At Dover Motor Speedway, where clean air is king and track position is gold, Alan Gustafson’s decision to pit flipped the script. Denny Hamlin stayed out on older tires and fended off two overtime restarts to bag the win. Despite leading 238 laps and winning Stage 1, the Hendrick Motorsports driver had to contend for a sixth-place finish. 

Dover has long been Elliott’s playground. In 14 career starts, he’s earned 2 wins, 10 top-five finishes, 394 laps led and an average finish of 9.5, second-best among active drivers. This year, he was handed the pole after rain wiped out qualifying, and despite no practice and a fresh tire compound, Elliott wasted no time showing speed. While there have been debates about missed strategy calls and Gustafson’s future at the #9 HMS team, Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a rather different opinion over the debate. And he turned the dial back to the correct time to identify the time, as he feels Elliott has somewhat lost his competitive spirit.

Dale Jr. challenges Elliott’s comeback: “He’s not the same driver!”

On his podcast, The Dale Jr. Download, Dale Earnhardt Jr. shared his honest thoughts on Elliott’s rollercoaster ride at Dover. He praised the car’s speed but didn’t support the costly pit decision. “Look, it wasn’t the right choice,” he said plainly. Elliott gave up the lead during a late caution at a track where it’s really important to stay out front, and couldn’t get it back. He was the lead car and had control of the race, and Hamlin would’ve recycled behind him.

Talking about Chase Elliott’s past injury, Junior said, “Chase Elliott to me has not been the Chase that I think he could be since the leg injury when he was snowboarding. Anytime a driver misses a lot of time, there’s this chance the team has a hard time getting traction again.”

Elliott’s leg injury from a snowboarding accident in early 2023 forced him to miss six races, and that setback did more than just sideline him, breaking the momentum. Dale Jr. believes Chase’s injury and the tough Next Gen car have made it harder for him to get back in rhythm. In 2023, he missed out on qualifying for the playoffs for the first time in his career, and since then he’s been to victory lane just twice. 

Junior said the No. 9 team has had trouble setting up the car the way Chase likes. Even though Chase is always pushing to win, something still doesn’t feel right. It’s like he hasn’t fully clicked with the car yet. “He wins that championship early and wants to contend every single year… but they’ve had a hard time getting the car to where he wants it or feels comfortable driving it.”

Dale Jr. also urged the team to stay confident and take their momentum into Indy. “Let’s think about how great this car was and how awesome, you know, we ran all day long, don’t carry that forward, carry that thought process forward into the Indy, go win Indy.” Elliott hasn’t finished inside the top 20 so far in 2025. Add four top 5s in the last six starts, his team has the momentum, and they need to keep executing until they find themselves back in the victory lane.

Elliott quietly takes the points lead

The 2020 Cup series champion scored 48 points at Dover, third-most behind Denny Hamlin (57) and Alex Bowman (49). With that, he took over the regular-season points lead at 702, backed by 12 top-10s and zero DNFs. His 238 laps led were the most he’s logged in a single race since his 289-lap performance at Martinsville in October 2021.

At Dover, he started from pole, led nearly 60% of the race, and looked poised to take control. But a late pit stop, while others stayed out, shuffled him out of contention. Crew chief Alan Gustafson’s call drew scrutiny, and Elliott’s post-race reaction hinted at frustration: “Had a nice recovery to get back to the lead… didn’t want to see that caution. I was hoping I was settling in for the last run of the day, but it’s part of it. It can change really fast.”

Despite the setback, Elliott’s sixth-place finish marked his ninth result of sixth or better in 2025. It wasn’t a win, but it was another solid step in a season built on consistency. Elliott didn’t win at Dover, but he kept the points lead, and his strong run shows he’s gaining momentum. Looking at the bigger picture, the extra 15 playoff points from winning the regular season title will allow Elliott to mount a championship charge.