NASCAR fan favorite Chase Elliott confronts struggles, determined to turn season around at Homestead

Hendrick Motorsports Chase Elliott recently discussed his mixed start to the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. He won the exhibition race at the Cook Out Clash but struggled at Daytona and Atlanta, finishing 15th and 20th, respectively. The No. 9 racer got his first top-5 of the season at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) and earned two top-10s in the last two races at Phoenix and Las Vegas.

Elliott is currently fourth in the overall Cup Series standings with 159 points. During an interview with NBC Sports' Dustin Long, seven-time Most Popular Cup Driver shared his thoughts on the same and said:

"The first three weeks, four weeks, you know, if you include The Clash, they were all really good. Had really fast cars and cars that did exactly what I wanted. And then, yeah, I mean we crashed the first three weeks of the season. So that was unfortunate, but yeah, you know, I'm certainly not going to sit here and tell you that Phoenix or Vegas were good because they weren't."

Chase Elliott has three top-5 and one top-10 finish at the upcoming Homestead-Miami Speedway. The 29-year-old also had a fifth-place place finish during the fall race at the 1.5-mile oval last year. Elliott said (00:32),

"We just got to keep, you know, keep plugging away and try to find some, you know, try to find some good runs. I think that we were really good here in the fall. Probably our best Homestead race maybe ever. Probably, definitely in this new car."

Chase Elliott qualified 18th for the Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead on Saturday. The race is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 23.

"It's better for sure" - Chase Elliott on short-track racing improvement in NASCAR's Next Gen cars

Chase Elliott also shared his opinion on whether short-track racing has improved with NASCAR’s new Next Gen cars and Goodyear’s tire change options. He said via Frontstretch (02:15 onwards):

"Seems like it is, and it seems like it's better for sure. And it seems like it's largely in part due to the tire. Truthfully, you know, the more I kind of look at it, the more I kind of just feel like, man, maybe this tire thing is really we're onto something there."

"But if there's one thing I've learned throughout my years of doing this, it's that just when you think you start to figure something out, you didn’t...And whatever you think you know, you probably didn’t to begin with. So I certainly don't act like I have the answers."

NASCAR introduced the Next Gen in 2022 and many believe that short-track racing has gotten worse, while intermediate tracks like Homestead-Maimi and Kansas Speedway have improved.

Two-time NASCAR Cup champion Kyle Busch made his opinion clear, recently, on the same. He criticized the similarity in the Next Gen car parts and pieces as one of the reasons for the struggles in short-track racing.