After 16 of 36 races in 2025, Chase Elliott is parked fourth in the Cup Series standings. Winless but steady, the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy driver nailed a top-20 finish in every race, boasting the third-best average finish. His playoff spot’s nearly locked, barring a flood of new winners. Rating his season, Elliott calls it “good” but admits, “it’s not where I want to be, no doubt.”
Yesterday’s Xfinity race at Pocono showed why he’s hungry for more. In a surprise entry, Elliott piloted the No. 17 Chevy, snagging his first Xfinity pole since 2014. Leading 38 laps, he looked primed for a win, but a restart with 13 laps left went sideways. It has been over a season since he was in the victory lane, and given how consistent and quick William Byron has been this year, he’s questioning himself.
Despite crashing out during the qualifying run and starting at the tail end of the field, the #24 car is making early gains at the Pocono Raceway. Back up car, worst possible starting position or the dirty air, nothing came in Byron’s way to charge up the field and make haste. In stage 1, the HMS driver found himself racing inside the top 20 positions in no time, and this caught Elliott and his team’s attention.
“William (Byron) is much better than me,” Elliott relayed this message on the team radio. His crew chief, Alan Gustafson, trying to keep him focused on his race, replied, “I don’t know that he is.” With each passing race that the #9 Chevy fails to contend for the race, it takes a hit on the driver’s confidence and only adds to the pressure of matching the strides of his teammates.
Elliott- “William(Byron) is much better than me.”
Gustafson- “I don’t know that he is.” #NASCAR
— Richard Allen/MotorsportsReport (@RichardAllenMSR) June 22, 2025
The big positive for Chase Elliott and the #9 team is that they have a full race ahead of them and can still make the gains and match the strides of the race leaders.
This is a developing story.
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