How Chase Elliott has put himself in contention for regular-season title

NASCAR's Most Popular Driver may not have the wins or laps led to show for it, but his consistency is nothing short of incredible in a sport that's schedule is as versatile as any in motorsports.

The 2020 Cup Series champion recently picked up his first win of the season at his home track of EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway) on June 28 to snap a 44-race winless streak.

Yet, his most impressive feat is his consistency that rivals some of the sport's best. Elliott's third-place finish at Sonoma on Sunday was his 20th consecutive inside the top 20 to begin the season. 

That comes one year after he began the 2024 season with 19 straight top-20s. In fact, he has not finished outside the top 20 in any event since the 2024 fall race at Las Vegas when suspension issues left him with a 33rd-place finish.

For comparison, only seven other drivers in NASCAR's history have began a season with 16 or more top-20 finishes, and only four, Dale Earnhardt (22), Lee Petty (24), Ricky Rudd (25) and Chase's father, Bill Elliott (29), have put together more top-20 finishes to begin a season. The elder Elliott is the only driver to accomplish the feat for an entire season in 1988.

Elliott may only have that one win compared to teammate Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Shane van Gisbergen, who each lead the series with three. He has only led 136 laps this season, a far cry from Larson's series-best 854, while his five playoff points have him seeded last of the drivers that are currently locked into the playoff field with wins.

A 10.8 average finish and zero DNFs — one of only two full-time drivers in the series to finish every race (Tyler Reddick) — have vaulted Elliott to second in the overall standings, only 14 points behind Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron.

There is a good chance the streak will continue in Sunday's Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Dover Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET, TNT Sports/truTV, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Elliott has two wins in 14 starts at the "Monster Mile" and has only finished outside the top 10 four times, two of which were because of engine issues and an incident.

Regardless of how long the streak continues, Elliott has proven you can never count him out. He may not be as flashy as some of the drivers around him in the points, but the consistency everywhere the series goes has him and the No. 9 team in a prime position to win the regular-season title with only six races remaining.