Chase Elliott 'somewhat happy' with 2025 despite persisting winless streak

Sunday's stop at Texas Motor Speedway marks a return to the site of 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott's most recent points-paying win last April.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver and seven-time most popular driver's only trip to victory lane since then was in The Clash exhibition race at Bowman Gray Stadium earlier this season.

His winless streak in points-paying races currently stands at 37 races. That follows a 42-race winless streak prior to last season's triumph in the Lone Star State.

While the wins have eluded him, Elliott is the only driver this season to finish inside the top 20 in each race. That consistency has him sitting fourth in the standings.

His best results have been a pair of fourth-place finishes at COTA and Martinsville, where he led a season-high 42 laps and scored his most points in a race this season (46).

When asked about his 2025 results so far, Elliott seemed pleased with the good runs he has had, but realizes there is much more potential in the No. 9 group than what they have showed.

"I'm somewhat happy," Elliott said, per NASCAR.com. "No different than anyone else on our team. We want more. I think we're capable of more. And we just have high expectations. We are proud of those good runs that we've had, but we know that there's more in the tank. The season's still very early, and I've seen enough high spots to kind of give me hope."

A concern for the team has been race-winning speed. Elliott has only led a combined 45 laps this season, 42 of which were at Martinsville. A tendency most weeks for the No. 9 team has been running between 10th and 20th and methodically moving up the running order as the races wind down to salvage a solid points day when the checkered flag waves.

Elliott managed to finish 15th, 20th and fourth in the first three races of the season at Daytona, Atlanta and COTA despite being involved in an incident in each one of them. That type of resolve and preparation from his team in those moments is not lost on the 29-year-old native of Dawsonville, Georgia.

"Our team does a really good job of just trying to piece stuff together," Elliott said. "It just comes down to those guys being prepared on pit road for toe-link changes or needing to patch together body pieces. A lot of that stuff comes from, from their preparation and hard work throughout the week to just make sure that they're ready for those types of circumstances that can be thrown at them. So that is the only reason why we didn't finish outside the top 20 at those races. It'd be great to pair that with some really good results and race wins."

You cannot deny the team's hard work and perseverance to overcome the obstacles thrown their way and piece solid finishes together. For a driver of Elliott's caliber that made three straight Championship 4 appearances from 2020-22 and has 19 career wins, consistent finishes are great, but far from what is expected.

As he returns to the site of his most recent points-paying win last season, finding more race-winning pace and running toward the front more often are crucial as Elliott looks to turn the consistent finishes into race wins and build some momentum toward the second half of the regular season.