What’s Happening?

Chase Elliott is sitting in 6th in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series points standings despite only 1 top-10 finish. He’s also in the midst of a 1+ season losing streak, so, what gives? What has gone on in Chase Elliott’s 2024 season?

• Chase Elliott is coming off of a tough 2023 season where he missed 7 races due to injury and a suspension. He has not won since Talladega in October of 2022.
• Elliott is often compared to his teammates at Hendrick Motorsports, all known for their world-class caliber. This often plays into how Elliott’s seasons are perceived compared to other drivers, as he is held to the same high standard.
• Chase Elliott is NASCAR’s most popular driver, so, fans keep a close eye on him. His expectations are high due to that popularity and his pedigree being a Cup Series Champion.

Is it Time to PANIC for Chase Elliott Fans?

Elliott’s Finishes vs Stage Results

Chase Elliott has yet to have a disaster race in 2024. While he’s never been a true threat to win a race yet, he’s enjoyed time up front throughout races this season, which has led to stage points. Here is Elliott’s stage point allotment from the first 5 races of the 2024 season.

Daytona 500	10 Points
Atlanta	1 Point
Las Vegas	5 Points
Phoenix	10 Points
Bristol	0 Points

Bristol was the first race all season that Elliott failed to score stage points. Overall, Elliott has scored stage points in 5/10 (50%) of the stages this season. The caveat is that Elliott has only one top-10 finish, 8th at Bristol, so, he has not parlayed those good runs into top-10 results.

The fading finishes for Elliott at Daytona (14th) and Atlanta (15th) were primarily due to late-race incidents, and Phoenix (19th) was due to pit strategy. Las Vegas (12th) was because Elliott was simply not fast enough to finish in the top 10.

Those finishes we just mentioned are not what Elliott is looking for. Especially when every one of his teammates has at least 1 top-5 and two teammates have won already. Still, they’re far from awful.

The Lack of Disaster Days

What Elliott has done is avoid “Disaster days” this season. These are days when a driver has a DNF or a late crash that pushes them back to outside of the top 25 or top 30.

Elliott is one of 8 drivers to have only 1 top-10 finish this season. Of those 8, 5 sit 20th or worse in the points standings, and every one of those 5 has at least 1 DNF this season. That’s where the difference ultimately lies.

Elliott has been far from spectacular this season, but, he’s comfortably in the top 10 in points for one simple reason, he stays out of trouble. When he has dealt with trouble, he has rebounded to get a semi-decent result.

However…

While Elliott has done a nice job staying out of trouble, he still would like to find some better performance this season. Finishing between 10th-15th every week is not good enough to win a Championship in any format.

He’s also still being outperformed by his teammates even on his best days. For example, Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman finished in the top 5 at Bristol and Elliott finished 8th.

Elliott has shown at times that he has speed by garnering stage points. The issue is he hasn’t put it together at the end of the race when the points payout is at its’ largest.

While being 6th in points is a solid place to be, Elliott still expects to perform better than he currently is. Is that breakthrough coming soon?