Chase Elliott is on a 38-race winless streak. It has been almost a whole season now that NASCAR’s most popular driver has been to victory lane. In 12 races so far in 2025, Elliott has shown flashes of brilliance, but he hasn’t been as clinical as William Byron or Kyle Larson from his team. They’ve already locked themselves in the playoffs, winning races, but Elliott isn’t far behind, at least if we are to measure his season by points tally.

The driver of the No. 9 Chevy sits in the fourth spot on the leaderboards behind his teammates and rival Christopher Bell. That’s a cushion of 134 points, and with 14 races left in the regular season, any other team or driver would have been content with these results. But that’s not the standard for Hendrick drivers, and Elliott himself acknowledged that his team needs to step up their game to get back in contention.

There’s room for improvement within the #9 HMS team

The 2020 NSACAR champ didn’t hold back when he was asked about his season’s progress ahead of the All-Star race. “Oh yeah, we’ve been okay.” He said, despite snagging three top 5 finishes and three top 10s in the first 12 races of the season.  “You know, I think there’s been weeks where we’ve got a good result from a not-so-good day, and there’s been weeks where we’ve had a bad result from a good day, and so we’ve kind of been all over the board. Just haven’t had that extreme pace, I would say, until, maybe last week, honestly, was probably as good as we’ve been all year,” said Elliott.

If we are to compare just the 12 races from last year, by this point in the season, Elliott was already locked into the playoffs. He had five top 5s compared to this year’s three, and there was a phase where he was out front contending for the win, apart from that sole finish at Talladega. And statistics do back his discontent. Out of the top 10 drivers in the points standings, Chase Elliott has led the most least laps of all, just 74 to his name. The likes of Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman are in a better place in terms of running the front. Zero playoff points again goes to show, he hasn’t started his title charge, as random winners would throw his points advantage out the window.

But, there have been positives. The P15 result in Kansas doesn’t show the full picture of how well he was doing at the mile-and-a-half track. After a clean pit stop, Elliott was able to take the lead from his teammate Larson, but on Lap 195, who also left the No. 5 car in his rear view mirror, had a flat and ran into the wall. This forced the field to pit again to see out the rest of the race. This was the money stop, and the #9 crew dropped the ball. Jackman TJ Semke dropped the car a little too early before the right rear tire was tightened. Semke had to lift the car again for the lug nut to be tightened. It was a 14-second stop and saw Elliott lose his lead and restart the race in 16th place.

“Maybe last week was probably as good as we’ve been all year. Martinsville, I would argue, was similar, but certainly last week was an encouraging weekend. As it pertains to being up front, battling for the lead and having a good well well-balanced car that also had a lot of speed, and we just gotta keep bringing that.” The HMS driver concluded.

Unable to find his mojo on the NASCAR ovals, the 29-year-old is turning his attention towards the grassroots racing event, apart from his commitment at the All-Star race.

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Chase Elliott’s side hustle alongside Cup Series duties

Alongside the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series, Chase Elliott is all set to make a special appearance in the upcoming Ross & Witer 255 race at Hickory Motor Speedway. The event will be presented by Appalachian Sucker Punch Punch and is a part of the ASA STARS National Tour and Southern Super Series. Elliott is a former winner of events like All-American 400 and Winchester 400, and he’s also a two-time winner of the Snowball Derby.

Well, it is rare for a NASCAR driver to participate in non-NASCAR races, but ever since Larson arrived at HMS, Mr. H has allowed his drivers to enjoy their racing beyond Sunday’s commitment. It is a risky undertaking, as we have seen Alex Bowman get injured in a sprint car race and miss four NASCAR points paying race in 2023. So, the veteran team owner has kept his promise, as we see Elliott return to Late Model racing, whereas Larson is back at Indy.

Elliott showed enthusiasm for his participation, stating, “I’m looking forward to it. The last time, I guess, was New Smyrna at the beginning of the year, so I’m excited to go run with those guys again. I hope we continue to progress and improve, and it’s tough hitting one every two or three months, but I’m excited to go. And hopefully, have a little fun. We’ll see.” 

In the previous year’s Tar Heel 250, Elliott faced mechanical challenges, including overheating tissues that forced him to retire early from the race. Bringing the same energy back this year, he expects a positive outcome from the race. This might be one of the few non-NASCAR races he gets to enjoy this season, so he would want to make the most of it.