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Chase Elliott Sends Bold Championship Message After Kansas Redemption

Originally posted on EssentiallySports | By Saad Rashid | Last updated Sep 29, 2025 12:49 AM ET

Five years. That’s how long it has been since Chase Elliott last won the championship. Many feel that the Hendrick Motorsports driver has fallen off since, claiming that he has struggled to adapt to the Next-Gen era. Even his road course prowess, which was once considered his strength in the Cup Series, has faded away, with the likes of Shane van Gisbergen redefining what it means to dominate on venues that are not ovals. But despite fewer wins at the highest level, the race in Kansas proved the 29-year-old has what it takes to secure clutch results.

With just five races remaining before the season ends, does Elliott have what it takes to challenge for the Bill France Cup once again? Time will tell. But the Hendrick Motorsports driver is optimistic about his chances and will be giving everything he’s got as long as he’s in contention for the championship.

Chase Elliott has his eyes on the prize

A win was long overdue. Chase Elliott qualified for the playoffs after a triumph in front of home fans at EchoPark Speedway earlier this year. While he has struggled for consistency since then, the 29-year-old showed some bright sparks in the playoffs so far. He finished third at Watkins Glen, and even salvaged a fifth-place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway despite starting the 2025 Mobil 1 301 in 27th place. Despite Hendrick Motorsports’ playoff struggles so far, the No. 9 Chevy has shown the speed to challenge the rivals, and Alan Gustafson’s shrewd strategy calls have proved to be the difference-maker.

Opening up about his championship hopes, Chase Elliott said in the post-race press conference, “I think this weekend was, truthfully, a really solid weekend. A really competitive weekend for us, from how we unloaded Saturday to opportunities that we continued to present ourselves today. And that is why we ended up having any chance to win. Ultimately, we got our turn, as I mentioned.” He went on to say, “Fortunately, we bought ourselves three more weeks. And you know, we’ll fight like hell till they tell us not to.”

Unlike last week, Elliott was determined to finish high in qualifying to remain in the hunt for a win at Kansas Speedway. He started the race in fourth place and remained in the mix during the opening two stages after finishing third and fourth, respectively. While Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota seemed leagues above everyone else, the Georgia-native turned the tide in his favor thanks to Alan Gustafson making a bold strategy call towards the end, where he replaced all four tires in the No. 9 Chevy, while the majority of the grid only replaced the rubber on the right.

And it’s calls like these that could prove to be the difference maker. With Toyota sweeping the Round of 16, and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney triumphing at New Hampshire, Hendrick Motorsports and Chevy need to think outside the box to secure results. While it has taken Elliott a few weeks to get his act together, the racer said, “A lot can happen in 10 weeks. And that can be the difference in somebody being mediocre to potentially getting on a hot streak, or you know, even a team collectively getting better throughout the course of that time.” Truer words have never been spoken.

Elliott voices support for a change in the playoff system

As things stand, Chase Elliott is one of only two drivers who have automatically qualified for the Round of 8. But despite being in an enviable position, the Hendrick Motorsports driver has opened up about a change in the playoff system. Currently, the elimination-style format doesn’t value consistency as much as clutch results, and winning the championship comes down to a winner-takes-all race at the end of the year, where four drivers battle it out for the Bill France Cup. However, such a system leaves little margin for error, with a single caution or unfortunate wreck derailing months of hard work.

Taking these factors into account, Elliott voiced his support for the 3-3-4 playoff system, going on to say, “I think it would be better than what we have. You just have a larger amount of races to decide (the champion). It would seemingly give an opportunity to have something that’s totally out of somebody’s hands, not completely derail their championship day … their shot at Phoenix (the current season finale, although it will move to Homestead-Miami Speedway next year). Is it perfect? Probably not, but I would say that it sounds better (than the current format).”

With four races determining the championship, there’s less reliance on ‘luck’ and more emphasis on consistency, which is what the majority of the fans and drivers want to see. Chase Elliott has also revealed, “The system would be just fine if you just had a full season (and no playoffs),” even if it might make the sport predictable. However, would he still be in favor of changing the postseason system if he does win the championship this year? Time will tell. Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

This article first appeared on EssentiallySports and was syndicated with permission.

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