Chase Elliott has started off his 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoff campaign with 17th and 3rd place finishes in Darlington and Illinois, respectively.
The 29-year-old is capable of heating up quickly, as he showed back in 2020 by winning consecutive races to capture his first and only Cup Series crown.
Elliott has been voted NASCAR’s most popular driver seven times, not just because of his charming demeanor but also because of his thrilling victories. Here are his three best out of his 20 total in the Cup Series.
Elliott’s first Cup Series win came in his fourth year driving for Hendrick Motorsports in the circuit (and his first year in the new No. 9 car).
He held off veteran driver Martin Truex for a narrow win in a race that ultimately foretold his future dominance on road courses. The NASCAR Hall of Fame site ranked Elliott’s win as the most memorable in the history of The Glen.
A 24-year-old Elliott held off fellow Championship 4 competitor Brad Keselowski by 2.74 seconds to capture his first-ever NASCAR Cup Series title (a week after winning his way into the final four).
The win meant he and his father, Bill, became the third father-son duo to accomplish the trick. “He told me, ‘All you have to do is beat three people,'” Elliott said post-race, revealing his father’s pre-race advice. “He said all week he felt confident that we could come out here and do this. And he was right.”
Elliott entered the 2025 Quaker State 400 in his home state of Georgia on a 44-race winless streak. He squeaked out the crash-filled affair to earn a playoff spot that looked unlikely as the Cup Series calendar approached June. He called his win “something I’ll never forget.”
“Unbelievable. How about that? Are you kidding me? I never in my life. This is unbelievable,” an exasperated Elliott said post-race. “Thank you guys so much. What a special car. It was a lot of fun. This right here is something I’ll never forget.
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“I just think that, honestly, all the cards fell on the right places there those last couple laps. What a crazy race, man. I don’t know if y’all had fun, but it was wild from my seat. I’m so glad we got to run that thing out there to the end.”