NASCAR's most popular driver Chase Elliott has offered a critical assessment of his 2025 campaign despite winning a prestigious award.
The 2020 Cup Series champion won two points-paying races in 2025, tasting success at Atlanta and later Kansas, whilst he had opened the season with a victory in The Clash exhibition race at Bowman Gray Stadium.
On top of that, Elliott also achieved an impressive 11 top 5s and 19 top 20s throughout the season, making it all the way to the playoffs Round of 8, when his bid for a second Cup Series championship came to an end at Martinsville.
However, the fans clearly liked what they saw, with Elliott officially awarded the NASCAR Cup Series' Most Popular Driver award come the end of the campaign - the eighth consecutive time he has scooped the prize.
Elliott assesses 2025 campaign
Elliott, of course, had a much more critical take on his season when speaking in the press conference at the awards show.
“I think for us, it was okay at times, and really solid at times, but it just wasn’t great,” the Hendrick Motorsports star told the media.
“We've had some high spots here or there but certainly not as consistently doing that as what we would like.”
Despite that, there were some areas of the season Elliott was happier with. Qualifying, for example, and how strongly the team appeared to finish the season overall.
“The qualifying thing certainly has been a huge point of emphasis throughout the course of the season,” Elliott explained.
“I felt like we gained on that the last couple of months. We were way more competitive in that regard.
“I feel like some of our best performances all year really came in the last month and a half or so, which was nice. It’s always fun to end the season in a good spot.”
