For the ninth time in his NASCAR Cup Series career, Chase Elliott is contending for a championship in the sport’s version of the post-season.

Photo: Dominic Aragon/TRE

Elliott’s 2025 campaign marks the second straight season the No. 9 team qualified for the NASCAR Playoffs.

“We’ll go to Darlington and try to build on the race we had there in the spring,” Elliott said after Daytona.

Photo by Dominic Aragon/TRE

Elliott led the point standings for two weeks during the summer months, creating a battle between him and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron, the ultimate victor in that battle.

The 2020 series champion racked up his lone win of 2025 thus far in July at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Photo: Aragon/The Racing Experts

Until a two-race skid at Watkins Glen (26th) and Richmond (38th), Elliott had finished every race inside the Top-20.

The consistency of the No. 9 team has been prevalent in 2025, but that’s not the only thing Elliott wants he and his team to be known for.

Photo: Josiah Kopp/TRE

“Consistency’s great, but it’s not the end goal by any stretch,” Elliott said during media day for the NASCAR Playoffs. “Pace can save a lot of things, and we need to have some more pace. 

“So hopefully we can gather some in, and put together some extra pace with the consistency, but it’s going to take both.”

Photo by Dominic Aragon/TRE

Of the 10 racetracks on the playoff schedule, Elliott has won in the Cup Series at half of the venues.

Despite no prior wins at the first tracks in the Round of 16, Elliott has won at Kansas and the Charlotte ROVAL (Round of 12); Talladega and Martinsville (Round of 8); and Phoenix (Championship race).

Stats through the first 26 races

0 poles

1 win

7 Top-5 finishes

13 Top-10 finishes

385 laps led

12.0 average finish

Dominic Aragon is currently the editor-in-chief for The Racing Experts.

From Grants, New Mexico, USA, Aragon started watching NASCAR in 2004 and has been covering the sport since 2009. Aragon is a 2012 graduate of Grants High School and a May 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism. Aragon has worked in local and national media, as a musician, and an educator. He is co-author of the 2024 book “All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story” with racer Geoff Bodine.

Aragon, his wife Feliz, and son Christopher currently reside in Grants, New Mexico, USA.

You can reach Dominic at daragon@theracingexperts.net.