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Chase Elliott Dealing With Blunt Reality Before New Hampshire Playoff Race

Originally posted on Athlon Sports
By Gowtham Ramalingam | Last updated Sep 20, 2025 6:05 AM ET

Chase Elliott’s Round of 16 in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs did not go as planned. The Hendrick Motorsports driver nearly believed that he had been knocked out of the fight for the championship as he finished 38th at the Bristol Motor Speedway last Saturday.

Fortunately, he was able to coast through to the next round with the help of a third-place finish at Gateway.

These two finishes and another subpar result of 17th place at the Darlington Raceway rendered his Round of 16 a rather below-average outing. While underwhelming, this course has hardened him up for what’s coming.

Chevrolet and Hendrick Motorsports haven’t won a race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the venue for the first race of the Round of 12, since Kasey Kahne won there in 2012. Elliott could possibly be the driver to end this drought and put a lobster on the table for his manufacturer and team again.

This week he said on "SiriusXM NASCAR Radio" (as reported on NBC Sports), "I just feel like there’s nothing to lose for us at this point. We’ve got to make something happen, get some life and get our heads down, and just grind it out these next three weeks."

Going into the weekend, he takes confidence from his race at Gateway. He admitted that there had been many positives to take away from the event, and he hopes to put them to good use at New Hampshire, in light of the similarities between the tracks. Despite this grit that he has found, his past results at the track make it a bit hard to bet on him.

The Struggles That Elliott and Hendrick Motorsports Have Faced at Loudon

In 11 starts at the 1.058-mile oval, Elliott has earned only three top-10 finishes. But he did lead double-digit laps in three of the last four races there, so that’s some reason to be optimistic. In the wider picture, Hendrick Motorsports has fared a lot worse.

Kyle Larson, a three-time runner-up at Loudon, has never won a race there. He has led just 22 laps across 14 starts. For William Byron, it is the sole active track where he has yet to record a top-10 finish despite having seven appearances on it. Alex Bowman’s average finish of 24.4, too, strongly reflects the challenges that the team faces.

The drought that Chevrolet and Hendrick Motorsports face has spanned 18 races and two generations of Cup Series cars. Will Elliott save them from further embarrassment? It remains to be seen.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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