Editor’s note: This is the 23rd in a series in which we review the top 30 drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series in reverse order of the 2025 final standings.
Driver: Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Crew chief: Alan Gustafson
Final 2025 ranking: 8th
Key stats: 2 wins, 11 top fives, 19 top 10s, 454 laps led
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How 2025 ended: Elliott qualified for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs for the ninth time in his 10-year career, winning the Kansas Speedway postseason race in the Round of 12 and earning six top-10 finishes during the 10-race playoff stretch. Elliott was eliminated from a shot at his second championship, finishing third at Martinsville Speedway in the Round of 8 finale behind his Hendrick teammates William Byron and Kyle Larson, who both advanced to the championship bout. A 10th-place finish in the Phoenix Raceway finale placed Elliott eighth in the championship final standings.
Best race: A last-lap pass at EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway) in June thrilled a sold-out crowd and earned Elliott his second career Cup Series victory at his “home” track. Although it was a dramatic last-lap pass that earned the trophy at Atlanta, Elliott led 41 laps on the day at the 1.5-miler and snapped a 44-race winless streak.
RELATED: 2026 Cup Series schedule | Chase Elliott driver page
Other season highlights: The 2025 season marked the first time Elliott won multiple races since 2022. However, his best race statistically came in a sixth-place finish after leading 238 of 407 laps at Dover Motor Speedway. His six-race top-10 showing in the 10-race playoff stretch was certainly a sign that the No. 9 team was prepared for a real fight for the championship. Three times Elliott strung together three consecutive top-10 runs, including an impressive stretch in the playoffs at three vastly different venues; he scored fifth at the one-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway, tallied a win at the Kansas 1.5-miler and landed eighth at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.
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Stat to know: Remarkably, Elliott’s final season statistics beyond the two wins — his 11 top fives and 19 top-10 finishes — exactly match his 2024 output. His 454 laps led were his most out front since 2022. His 12.6 average finish was impressive, considering his 16.1 average start was the second-lowest of his career (17.3 in 2023).
Quotable: “The way I’ve kind of progressed through the playoffs this year is just to fight as hard as I can each week, try to earn myself and our team three more weeks, and you never know what can happen in three weeks. … That can be the difference in somebody being mediocre to potentially getting on a hot streak or even a team collectively getting better throughout that course of time.” — Elliott said of his 2025 playoff strategy.
Looking ahead: The good news for Elliott is that his Hendrick Motorsports organization earned its series-record 15th Cup Series championship. The tough news is that it wasn’t Elliott but his teammate, Larson, hoisting the trophy this season. A multi-time winner for the sixth time in his career and first time in three years, Elliott and Alan Gustafson, his longtime crew chief, finished the year feeling optimistic about their progress. Elliott led the most laps since 2022 and advanced to the Round of 8, all positive progress for a former series champion who enters every year expecting to claim another trophy and showing up on the grid with all the resources to do so.
