Chase Elliott isn’t a very loud guy. He mostly minds his business, keeps his opinions to himself, does what’s asked of him, and disappears until the next race. His persona off track is one that is also reflected in his performances on track. And Kevin Harvick believes it is this persona that could be the key to the fate of his 2026 season.

Kevin Harvick highlights Chase Elliott’s underappreciated quality

On the recent episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast, Chase Elliott’s runner-up finish at Las Vegas was a subject of discussion. Co-host Mamba Smith claimed that the speed the #9 team has shown in the first five races is a promising sign.

It’s worth mentioning that so far this season, Elliott has two top 5 finishes. The last time he scored two top 5s within 5 races of a season was in 2021, when he made it to the final 4, and the time before it was 2020, when he won the championship.

But disagreeing with Mamba Smith’s opinion on Elliott ‘showing’ speed, Kevin Harvick explained why the opposite is true for the #9 driver.

“I think that Chase Elliot has been sneaky,” Harvick said.  “And exactly what we’ve talked about on this show and why this Chase format is going to make Chase Elliott better is because they can grind,”

Harvick mentioned how Elliott and his crew chief, Allen Gustafson, can pull off races where, re despite not having a visible ‘solid performance’, the #9 car goes from running 20th for the most part to finishing 9th.

“Those are the things that Chase Elliot does better. And if you didn’t tell everybody that he was fourth in the points to start that race yesterday, nobody would have believed you because they’ve just been quietly getting the finishes that they need and capitalising on the day when everybody else,” Harvick added

He mentioned the example of Kyle Larson’s mistake at Atlanta as something Chase Elliott wouldn’t do, which is why he’d ‘keep himself up’ in points. Harvick claimed a driver needs to be in the top five to have a chance at winning the championship. The former NASCAR driver said that it’s not about how far one is behind in poi; ts, it’s where they are when the reset happens before the Chase.

Chase Elliott was ‘bummed’ after Las Vegas but remains focused on the big picture

In Sunday’s race at Las Vegas, Chase Elliott came up just short of a win. That would’ve been his first win since Kansas in September last year. And the disappointment of that wasn’t lost on the #9 driver. Looking back on his race, he mentioned he saw a chance to pass Hamlin, who was getting tight at the end of runs late in the race. But as ‘bummed’ as he was at not winning, Chase Elliott saw the big picture.

“I have to kind of bring myself back to a reality check, how much better we ran today than we’ve been running. I’m balancing that. Obviously, these things are hard to win. We had a great opportunity to do it,” he said.

Elliott claimed it was ‘a really solid day’ for the #9 team. He wished he could’ve pieced the last two laps together a bit better. With that said, do you think Chase Elliott has a shot to win his second Cup title this season?