2024 NASCAR season in review: Chase Elliott

Posted by Admin December 25, 2024 Sports

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Chase Elliott returned to Victory Lane and the playoffs in 2024 after being blanked in both categories in 2023.

Elliott’s consistency — he had the best average finish in the series at 11.7 — was a marked step up from 2023. If he can continue to make a climb in all areas, the 2025 season could see the Hendrick Motorsports driver return to winning multiple races in a year.

No driver other than an Elliott or Earnhardt has won the award since 1991.

CREW CHIEF: Alan Gustafson

TEAM: Hendrick Motorsports

POINTS: 7th

WINS: 1 (Texas)

LAPS LED: 431

TOP 5s: 11

TOP 10s: 19

STARTS FROM POLE: 0

Elliott earned ‘popular’ win in action-packed race

Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte review Chase Elliott’s victory to snap a 42-race winless skid after a wild day of Cup Series racing at Texas, and preview what’s at stake between now and the Coke 600 at Charlotte.

WHAT WENT RIGHT: Ended a 42-race winless streak with his victory at Texas. Had seven top-10 finishes in the playoffs this season. Advanced through the first three rounds of the playoffs before being eliminated. His average finish for the season was 11.7, best in the series.

WHAT WENT WRONG: Started outside the top 10 in 15 of 36 points races. That hurt him in scoring stage points. He failed to score points in the first stage in nine of those 15 races he started outside the top 10. Had nearly half of his laps led total (210) in two races in the playoffs. In the other eight playoff races, he led a total of eight laps.

CHASE ELLIOTT SAID: “I find a lot of pride in our closing three or four weeks of the season. Just our performance, I thought, was in a really good spot. When I think about that, if we can just carry that forward to next year, I think we’ll have a lot of great opportunities and we intend to do that.”

WHAT TO EXPECT IN 2025: Chase Elliott won at least two races a season from 2018-22 but has one win since. His team’s progression and his average finish this past season show that the No. 9 group is on a trajectory to winning more races, beginning in 2025.