During his tenure as Jeff Gordon’s crew chief at Hendrick Motorsports, Steve Letarte famously saw Rick Hendrick personally thank every single team member after the 1995 championship. This was a moment that cemented Hendrick’s leadership values in Letarte’s mind. As a respected NBC analyst today, he has seen many talents rise and fall within HMS. One driver, however, has consistently remained in the spotlight — Chase Elliott. This year, though, Letarte didn’t offer praise on the #9 driver. Instead, he delivered a hard-hitting verdict on Elliott’s steady, but unremarkable, 2025 campaign.

Chase Elliott’s career has seen brilliant peaks. His 2020 Cup Series Championship was the high point, where he logged career highs in laps led, top-5s, and top-10s. He became one of the youngest champions ever. Today’s Elliott, in 2025, has one win, 7 top-5s, 12 top-10s, an average finish around 10–11, zero DNFs, and nearly 100 percent lap completion. Still, those steady results may be his Achilles’ heel. In a surprising shift from expectation, Letarte delivers a stark reckoning for this season’s rock-solid driver.

Chase Elliott’s consistency is only good for a round of 8 driver as per Letarte

Letarte’s numbers-based analysis cut through the hype with surgical precision. He highlighted Elliott’s performance metrics. “He’s seventh for the entire season on speed, fifth on long run speed, first on passing, third on defense, third on pit crew.” These stats illustrate a well-rounded and high-performing driver. But that, Letarte warns, isn’t translating to playoff dominance under today’s system.

Digging deeper, Letarte painted a vivid contrast on NASCAR’s Inside the Race podcast. “I think that he has a very throwback year to a non-throwback system. So in 2004 …Chase Elliott would be an absolute title contender. In 2025, I think this is round of eight consistency.” He argued that Elliott’s steadiness might actually cap his ceiling in the current elimination-style playoffs. This is in contrast to the older ways, where consistency was king and Elliott’s racing style would have certainly made him the table topper.

Then came the jolt. “Is a bad run finally what they need? … Maybe they just needed to finally say … we need to take more risks because we’ve been very consistent. That’s not working.” Letarte is effectively urging Elliott’s team to risk the reprieve of consistency to unlock championship potential.

Chase Elliott has locked in his spot in the 2025 playoffs. His consistency guarantees his berth. But the question looms. Can he convert that into playoff momentum? With two races to go before the playoffs, a spark from either a win or a fresh strategy could shift everything. If Letarte’s theory holds, a misstep might be the very catalyst Elliott needs to go from steady performer to title contender.

Former road course specialist struggling in the Next Gen Era

Once revered as NASCAR’s “king of the road courses,” Chase Elliott built his reputation with back-to-back Watkins Glen wins in 2018 and 2019. His mastery of technical layouts made him one of the most feared drivers on the schedule. But with the arrival of the Next Gen car, Elliott admits those circuits now feel foreign.

In 2025, Elliott remains a model of consistency. He is second in the regular-season standings, averaging around a 10th-place finish, and the only driver to notch a top-20 in every race so far. Yet road course results tell another story. Since the Next Gen debut, his best Watkins Glen finish is fourth in 2022, followed by a 32nd in 2023 and 19th last year, with no wins on such tracks in the era. As he puts it, the change is so drastic that it is “not even a different chapter… it’s like a different book.”

Elliott says the transition has been “totally different” in feel and approach, a reality that has chipped away at one of his biggest competitive advantages. Once a guaranteed threat for a win on road courses, he now leans on overall season performance to make up for lost ground in these events. The gap between his past dominance and current form is clear.

With the playoffs approaching, road courses could either be a stumbling block or the stage for a resurgence. Elliott’s consistency will keep him in the title hunt. But whether he can adapt to the “different book” of the Next Gen era may decide if he adds another championship to his resume.