Elliott returns to Texas - the site of his last win, one year ago

The clock struck 12; another year has come and gone -- 384 days to be exact.

No matter the way you choose to describe it, Chase Elliott last won a NASCAR Cup Series points-paying race over a year ago. Sunday’s return to Texas Motor Speedway marks the site of his last victory. It was April 24, 2024 when the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports team last celebrated in victory lane.

“No,” Elliott blankly said when asked if he was surprised it’s been a year since he last won. “It’s the way the calendar falls; 12 months.”

Elliott does have a non-points win in that time. He started the 2025 season in dominating fashion in the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium when he led 171 of 200 laps.

Although he’s been winless, Elliott has had a presence. He's fourth in the Cup Series championship standings and is tied with three other drivers for the second-most top-10 finishes in the series. Those six top-10 finishes have come in the last eight races.

The team finished seventh in the championship last year, and Elliott earned the most top-10 finishes, top-five finishes and laps led in a single season since 2022. The 11.7 average finish he had was the best it's been since 2021.

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The wins haven't been as consistent lately.

Elliott earned his first win in the Cup Series in 2018 and then they started coming in bunches. It was three wins in 2018 and ‘19 before a five-win season in 2020, in which he also won the championship. Elliott added another seven wins between the 2021 and ’22 seasons.

He went winless in 2023. The victory at Texas last year broke a 42-race drought.

The sport’s most popular driver admits there have been a lot of lessons over the last few seasons -- good and bad -- as the team navigated not winning as much as they once did.

“[You] just have to take those lessons and take the experience that comes with all that stuff and figure out how to make it better,” Elliott said. “That’s really all you can do, in my opinion. I feel like we’ve done a good job of that over the course of the last couple of years. We’ve had some good opportunities to win at different points in time, but certainly not on the consistent basis that I would like to see or that we expect of ourselves, and I expect of myself.”

Elliott qualified 29th for Sunday’s race.