Posted 3 hours ago by Ryan Kemna Cup

Chase Elliott: NASCAR Cup Chase 2026 Preview

Chase Elliott spearheaded Hendrick Motorsports in the regular season win department on his way to the 2026 edition of the chase.

Elliott held a top five seed for much of the regular season. After his second win of the season at Texas Motor Speedway, he and Hendrick Motorsports’ performance saw a dip.

A dip that had him flirting with that top five seed all season long. In the end, a poor finish to the regular season cemented himself outside of the ideal seedings.

NASCAR’s most popular driver enters his third consecutive, and tenth total, postseason as the eighth seed.

Hot Spring Cold Summer

In 2025, Chase Elliott finally returned to victory lane multiple times within a season and with that renewed race winning confidence, it didn’t take long for him to find it once more.

While not an official win, his duel win at Daytona set the course for what would be a winning first half of his regular season.

The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion looked as though he returned to that form. He captured his second career Cup victory around the paperclip of Martinsville in a battle with Denny Hamlin.

Then four races later, he outgunned the field again at Texas for a second career victory there.

Never before in his Cup Series career had he won two points races before the 11th race of the season. But, Chase Elliott might have peaked too early.

He left Texas third in the regular season standings which became a position that he would fail to hold throughout the summer.

A subpar Watkins Glen then two close DNF’s at Charlotte and Michigan acted as the catalyst for the slide. From Pocono until the Chase, he failed to capture more than one top ten in the final 11 races.

But his finishing position was not all to blame, his qualifying pace disappeared too. His great average start of an 11.6 tumbled after his hard wreck with Christopher Bell at Michigan. From Pocono onwards, Elliott and his No. 9 team averaged a 20.0 starting position.

Starting deep in the field will not cut it in the Chase. He and crew chief Alan Gustafson will have to correct their speed on Saturday’s in order to have a better shot at a top ten or better.

Can Elliott turn around his cold streak in the Chase this fall?

2026 Chase Outlook

To reignite his season, Chase Elliott needs to start small with a top ten. In his previous 12 races, he finished inside the top ten once with a fifth-placed finish at Richmond.

For Elliott, Darlington Raceway serves as one of his most consistent tracks on the circuit. Despite his winless status there, an average finish of 10.7 statistically gives him a chance for a momentum building top ten.

But his 60-point gap to leader Denny Hamlin will need more than a few top ten’s to see him make ground. Luckily, there are a few tracks in the Chase where Elliott has won from before.

In this round he will see six venues where he has gone to victory lane including a defending win last fall at Kansas Speedway.

He will need an inspired final ten races to make a championship bid but can he and Hendrick Motorsports find their winning ways again in 2026?

Ceiling: Fourth Floor: 12th