Chase Elliott was Hendrick Motorsports’ man to beat in the regular season, yet he had to watch his teammate Kyle Larson win his third title instead. The driver has lived this story before. He won his first title with the coveted team in 2020 before Larson’s triple crown overshadowed his triumph. And while he continues to trust the process at Hendrick, the growing gap between his results and Larson’s raises a question worth asking: what is stopping Elliott from getting back into championship contention? Chase Elliott has not written himself off just yet, but has found neutral ground when it comes to navigating his season.
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“You know, I’ve been doing it long enough now; I just kind of take it in stride. It’s one of those things I feel like it’s kind of necessary. It’s a necessary evil to kind of ride in that middle ground to a certain degree, right? The season is very long; these rollercoaster rides can eat you up if you’re not really, really careful,” said Elliott while speaking to Motorsports Today’s Tim Moore.
“So, yeah, leaning on some experience with that and just pushing myself to be better, and ultimately all those scenarios hopefully help you, you know, how to navigate anything that’s thrown at you down the road, is the hope, right? You hope that all that growth is worthwhile at the end of the day.”
2026 marked the No. 9 driver’s worst full-season campaign since 2023, when he missed seven races due to a broken leg and serving a suspension.
The driver started off the 2026 regular season strong with two victories at Martinsville and Texas. He secured eight top-five finishes, 13 top-10 finishes, and led 318 laps with an average finish of 15.06. Chase Elliott was the only Hendrick driver to win races in the regular season.
However, Elliott’s season soon took a drastic turn as he DNF’d in Charlotte, Indianapolis, and Gateway. The Coca-Cola 600 saw him finish 37th after an accident forced him to retire after completing just 89 of 400 laps. The Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis also brought an early exit for the driver after completing 119 laps and finishing 37th in the race. A Brake failure while running seventh on Lap 214 at the Enjoy Illinois 300 sent him spinning into the wall, ending his race. The FireKeepers Casino 400 in Michigan and the disastrous YellaWood 500 in Talladega also saw the driver finish 32nd and 36th in both outings, respectively.
While Kyle Larson‘s title charge in the Chase may make it seem like the other Hendrick Motorsports drivers, including Elliott, lacked performance, the real problem was Chevrolet’s new Camaro body design. The new aero body haunted every Chevrolet-backed fleet, including the coveted Hendrick Motorsports team. It erased years of simulation data by introducing a completely new design, making it difficult for garages to adapt to the new car.
Hendrick Motorsports had its fourth-worst regular season slump in 2026, delivering an average finish of 17. 6. The team previously suffered similar performance slumps in 2002 (19.6), 2005 (18.6), and 2004 (17.7), respectively, making 2026 its worst showing in its recent NASCAR Cup Series run so far.
And although Chase Elliott’s poor run can largely be blamed on the Chevrolet fleet just not being competitive enough, Larson’s charge to win the title makes it harder to defend.
The two-time world champion delivered a sensational Chase run right when it mattered most to snatch the title win from the top seed, Denny Hamlin, and seven other title contenders. While Larson’s winless regular season still kept him in the top 16 to enter the Chase, Elliott’s strong first half did not help him capitalize on the results to compete for the title.
Larson arrived in the Chase races as the seventh seed with a 51-race winless campaign to his name. However, the reigning world champion had the resources to fight for the title, as his No. 5 garage improved week in and week out. Larson, alongside long-time crew chief Cliff Daniels, focused on bagging as many points across stages as possible, and the strategy worked in their favor despite a few curveballs.
The No. 5 driver turned his season around by winning three out of 10 races and delivered six consecutive top-six finishes as the Chase began. His only setbacks came at Phoenix, Martinsville, and Homestead-Miami, where the driver finished 34th, 9th, and 12th in the races, respectively. However, Martinsville and Homestead did not affect his championship run, as he still led the standings with a comfortable cushion.
His Talladega win became the highlight of his Chase run as he conquered the victory lane at the iconic superspeedway for the very first time in his Cup Series career. Talladega also marked the turning point of his campaign as he arrived with a 5-point gap to contender Christopher Bell, but walked away with a massive 73-point lead over his closest title contender Denny Hamlin.
Larson’s title win could be hugely credited to his No. 5 garage and crew chief, Cliff Daniels, who came up with the title-winning strategy and executed clean races week in and week out.
The driver-crew chief duo similarly won the 2025 title after a late-race caution allowed them to execute a sensational two-tire pit strategy while Hamlin decided to pit for all four tires. The quick thinking and strategic advantage turned the tide on its head as Larson snatched the title win from a dominant Denny Hamlin in the final few laps of the season finale race in Phoenix.
While Larson made the most of the package he had, the other three Hendrick Motorsports drivers, William Byron, Alex Bowman, and Chase Elliott, could not extract the same performance out of their cars. Byron’s only win of the season came at the Martinsville outing, where he swept both stages and the race to earn 76 points. Alex Bowman’s season was disrupted due to vertigo and deteriorating health.
Kyle Larson clinched the title, but his teammates, Byron, Elliott, and Bowman finished their season in 8th, 12th, and 26th place, respectively.
Although Elliott has been chasing his second title win since 2020, he got within striking distance twice in 2021 and 2022. The No. 9 driver has faith in his garage and its ability to deliver strong results, and his mindset has helped him learn more from setbacks instead of being frustrated by the outcome.
Over the years, Hendrick Motorsports’ championship-winning driver has worked on identifying his shortcomings and learnt from his teammate’s data to address what he could do differently. And while he knows the coveted team has what it takes to win titles, he is hoping his patience will eventually be rewarded with his second big Cup Series trophy.