One year later, can Chase Elliott strike gold in Texas again?

For five consecutive seasons between 2018 and 2022, Chase Elliott won multiple races every year and racked up 18 Cup Series wins. But in the three years since, NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver has only added a single win to that total

Despite this, it’s hard to say Elliott has fallen off as he ended the 2024 season with the best average finish of any full-time driver in the field. He’s started 2025 off solid as well and sits fourth in the standings — the highest of any winless driver. And that’s the confounding thing about the second-generation racer. He is constantly near the front, but it’s become increasingly rare to see him visit Victory Lane.

His only victory in the last 80 starts came in a high-attrition race at Texas Motor Speedway in April of last year. He was running second to Denny Hamlin on a late-race restart, but a helpful push from Ross Chastain allowed him to nose ahead just as a caution flew for a mid-pack crash. That put Elliott in the lead for the restart that followed, allowing him to hold off Hamlin who spun wildly into the outside wall while attempting to hold the outside line through Turns 3 and 4. Elliott then battled Chastain on the final restart, keeping him at bay and capturing the checkered flag.

This weekend, Elliott returns to the site of his most recent victory with a fresh gold paint scheme, celebrating 100 years of sponsor NAPA. When Elliott won at Texas, he snapped a 42-race winless streak. He returns to the tricky intermediate track facing a similar situation. Even as he celebrated that win last April, Elliott seemed to know it wasn’t the beginning of a sudden turnaround.

“I still think we have a lot of work to do, for sure,” Elliott said in the winner’s press conference. “A lot of things went our way today, I’m not naïve to that, for sure as well. You have to be in the mix. You got to be up front to even have things go your way. We were close enough to do that. We still want to be better. I think we have room for improvement. Just proud of the way everything worked out. It’s a lot more fun when you’re fighting for wins and up front battling, whether it goes your way or doesn’t go your way. Just to have a shot is enjoyable.”

Chase Elliott gold paint scheme for Texas 2025

But what is the missing piece? Based on Elliott’s comments in recent years, the car itself seems to be part of it. Like several other top drivers from the end of the Gen-6 era, they’ve struggled to adjust to this Next-Gen vehicle and the different style of driving it requires.

The championship format doesn’t help either. Elliott seems to be the king of consistency. Along with that series-leading average finish of 11.7 from last year, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion has just five DNFs in the last 75 races (going back to the start of 2023) with none so far this year. However, running well doesn’t lead to a Championship 4 appearance. Even the most consistent drivers have to go out and win races and the No. 9 team hasn’t been able to do that. But hey, maybe history will repeat itself at Texas on Sunday…