CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Chase Elliott has long been his harshest critic, analyzing each moment that results in subpar results compared to the standard expected to win at Hendrick Motorsports in the NASCAR Cup Series.
But on the precipice of The Chase presented by Mobil 1, Elliott believes he and the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports team can contend for the 2026 championship.
MORE: Chase standings | Darlington schedule
Elliott, the 2020 Cup champion, enters The Chase as the No. 8 seed, 60 points behind series leader Denny Hamlin before Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (5 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet is the organization’s only driver to win this season, scoring victories at Martinsville Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway.
Yet those wins seem like they happened an eternity ago. The race at Texas, his most recent win, occurred May 3, four months before The Chase’s beginning. In the 15 races since that victory, Elliott notched just one top five (fifth, Richmond) and an additional top 10 (seventh, Nashville) with an average finish of 19.1.
“If you took that summer stretch alone, I’d be like, ‘shoot, this is gonna be a tall order,’ ” Elliott said Wednesday during Chase Media Day rounds at the Charlotte Convention Center. “But then I look at the first part of the year, and it’s like, well dang.”
Indeed, the first 11 races of 2026 tell a different story: two wins, five top fives, seven top 10s and an average finish of 8.9. Seven of those first 11 feature race tracks that are back on the schedule in The Chase: Phoenix Raceway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Darlington, Martinsville, Bristol Motor Speedway, Kansas Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.
“Listen, there’s nobody that’s harder on the reality of what things are than me and just the state of where I’m at and where we are and so forth. And I can be as negative as anybody; don’t get me wrong,” Elliott conceded. “But when I look at the first part of the year, it is really hard for me to sit there and be like, ‘man, that was just a fluke.’ Like, yeah, OK, we got lucky at Martinsville with strategy, but were fast enough that last run to hold off (Hamlin) and manage it. So take Martinsville out of it. Had a legit shot to win Vegas. Texas was certainly no fluke; led a lot of the latter part of that race. Had really good pace. Went to Darlington; qualified really well there in the spring. Didn’t run very good in the race.
“I guess where I’m going with all of that is there’s been enough high spots of purposeful things that have gone on where I’m like, man, those things, they’re there somewhere. Why can’t we produce that on a consistent basis? So that’s why my answer is yes, I think we can (contend for the title) if we stack things at the right time and obviously get some things going our way. I think some of those really strong performances — I’m encouraged by that just from the standpoint of it wasn’t that long ago and nothing has really changed since then other than decisions you make going into the week.
“I’m hopeful. I’m hopeful that we can turn the corner and run like I know we’re capable of running.”
Even through a summer of middling results, Elliott saw gains in performance that may lend to better finishes in the postseason. The eight-time most popular driver finished 11th in July at Chicagoland Speedway, for example, but an earlier test by teammate Kyle Larson and the No. 5 team led to gains there for all of Hendrick Motorsports.
“That was one of those races for us that, speaking firsthand, we had another day where I’m like, man, there were runs during that race where, gosh, we were really competitive,” Elliott said. “I think we got in the top five at one point. The car’s doing the things that you want it to do and were pacing the guys that were pacing the field. Gosh, it’s just crazy how close and how easy it is to get off nowadays. Just a little bit goes a long way.”
Six years ago, Elliott soared through the postseason and won the Cup Series title alongside crew chief Alan Gustafson. This year’s format may be different, but he believes the road ahead can lead to the same championship result.
“We’ve got our heads down. We’re digging. We’re working really, really hard, fine-tuning everything that we can possibly do,” Elliott added. “And I have a lot of confidence in our team to be able to perform at our best when it’s required the most. I think that we certainly enjoy this time of year a lot individually, and we’re just excited to give it a go. We’ll see where it takes us.”