Jeff Gordon addresses Chase Elliott's 'frustrating' start to 2025 NASCAR season
Chase Elliott has dealt with a frustrating beginning to the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, by his standard.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver has not recorded a win in 2025 and has watched two of his teammates, William Byron and Kyle Larson, earn victories with another teammate Alex Bowman in contention for a win last week at Homestead-Miami Speedway before Larson sped by for the victory.
Byron (244), Larson (208) and Bowman (205) occupy the top three spots in the NASCAR Cup Series standings. Elliott (181) is sixth.
Jeff Gordon, four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and current vice Chairman of Hendrick Motorsports, said in a postrace press conference at Homestead that Elliott's early-season frustration can stem from a strong offseason and a solid preseason exhibition victory at The Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium.
"I feel like they came into the season with a lot of momentum as well and started strong, meaning just you could just sense that they've got a lot of confidence and coming to the racetrack ready to go." Gordon said. "The last couple of weeks probably were a little bit frustrating for them."
"They're a really solid team," Gordon continued. "Just a lot of depth and a lot of belief in one another. You know, you've got to get through the rocky times."
Gordon added that when a team is struggling similar to the No. 9 team, led by crew chief Alan Gustafson, the tendency is to measure up to what other teams are doing. So far this season, they're measuring against teammates.
"So, if you're not achieving what you want to achieve, then you know you've got to go to work, and you know that you're not meeting expectations," Gordon said. "(Gustafson and Elliott) have high expectations. It's not unusual for them to get down a little bit on, 'Hey, this isn't good enough,' but I've seen them react really well and positively to that too."
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Chase Elliott currently sits sixth in the NASCAR Cup Series standings with 181 points, 63 points behind the leader, William Byron. Elliott dropped two places after the Homestead-Miami race.
No, Chase Elliott is not racing today. But he will be racing in the NASCAR Martinsville race at 2 p.m. CT on Sunday, March 30 at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia.
Chase Elliott and Hendrick Motorsports shared on social media Tuesday that Elliott will be running a throwback scheme honoring Ken Schrader's No. 25 Kodiak Chevrolet from 1994.
Chase Elliott has three top 10 finishes in six points races so far this season. His only top five finish was a season-best fourth place at the NASCAR COTA race after he was spun out on the first corner of the first lap.
Elliott won the preseason Busch Light Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, but that race was an exhibition.
In his career, Elliott has 19 wins, 105 top 5 and 174 top 10 finishes in his career.
LAST TIME OUT: NASCAR Homestead-Miami reaction: Why Ty Gibbs is struggling
Chase Elliott won the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series championship after winning five races and racking up 15 top 5 and 22 top 10 finishes.
Chase Elliott is 6-foot-1.
His Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Alex Bowman, is the same height while the others are shorter. William Byron is 5-foot-9 and Kyle Larson is 5-foot-6.
Chase Elliott drives the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports.
Chase Elliott is 29 years old. His birthday is Nov. 27, 1995.
Chase Elliott is from Dawsonville, Georgia.
Chase Elliott's dad is Bill Elliott, who raced in the NASCAR Cup Series from 1976-2012 and full-time from 1983-2003. He won the NASCAR Cup Series championship in 1988 and won the Daytona 500 in 1985 and 1987.
Bill Elliott won 44 races with 175 top 5 and 320 top 10 finishes. Bill Elliott is a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2015 and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America Class of 2007.
Follow sports writer Austin Chastain on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @ChastainAJ or reach him via email at achastain@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Chase Elliott is off to frustrating start to 2025 NASCAR season
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