“Just continuing to put together solid days,” Chase Elliott giddily declared after a third-place finish in Iowa this year. Usually, the Hendrick Motorsports team is shining brightly due to Kyle Larson’s presence. As after his double attempt, Larson made it into the ‘best racers in the world’ category. However, Elliott’s redemption story is nothing short of titillating, as he pulled himself up from the shadows.

After spending a year slumped in bad lack and bad runs, Elliott worked on himself. Currently, NASCAR fans are utterly shocked at the way he reversed his fortunes and managed to expertly maneuver the Next Gen car. While Elliott goes through his glory days, Kyle Busch may be mired in the worst season of his career.

Chase Elliott manages to snag a top spot

When the Next Gen car was released in 2022, it had two purposes. One was to decrease expenses, and the other was to increase parity on the racetrack. While the first is highly debated, the second also has not materialized. Ultimately, it narrowed down to who is flexible enough to wheel this new vehicle. And the results are visible—Kyle Larson, the most glorious racer this season with four wins, also leads his peers in points scored in the Gen 7 car. Larson also leads the NASCAR Cup standings, followed by teammate Chase Elliott.

However, when it comes to the points in NextGen, Larson is closely followed by William Byron and Denny Hamlin, both owning three wins each. Then comes Ryan Blaney, the defending Cup Series champion. Christopher Bell and Martin Truex Jr. are close behind, both stellar drivers of Joe Gibbs Racing. However, Chase Elliott’s position in seventh place is surprising indeed. Remember Elliott’s harrowing experiences last season? He suffered a fracture in a snowboard incident when he missed seven races. Then NASCAR suspended him after he wrecked Denny Hamlin in Charlotte, and Elliott failed to make the playoffs.

After those ordeals, Chase Elliott has come a long way. He broke a 42-race winless streak in Texas this year. He steered his No. 9 Chevrolet to seven top-5s and also away from any DNF. Like his championship year of 2020, Elliott owned one win at this point of the season. But he had late-year surges—he went on to clinch four wins over the final races. In June, Elliott tied with Larson at the top of the regular season standings with 620 points. Currently holding 2nd place in points, he has only 10 points to cover to topple his teammate yet again.

In the meantime, the situation is entirely different for 63-time Cup winner Kyle Busch. After his fifth DNF of the season in Pocono, both Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick cast a dark cloud over his performance. Then the Brickyard 400 marked his 43rd winless race, as he finished a meager 25th place. The Richard Childress Racing driver is in a dire points situation indeed, as he currently sits over 100 points below the playoff cutline. The veteran driver may be in his dark phase, as Elliott is recovering from his.

And NASCAR fans are delighted with the No. 9 driver’s stellar progress.

Fans gush with pride over Elliott’s success

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This time last year, Chase Elliott was wallowing in misery. After just two races in 2023, Elliott’s mountaineering trip went sour, crippling his leg and sidelining him for seven races. The rest of the year also went bad for him and did no good to make up for his absence. So looking at Elliott’s position on the points board dazzled fans. One fan said: “Chase missing 7 races last year and being on this list is damn impressive.” Somebody else also echoed the sentiment, albeit with a slight stat mistake. “Elliott in 7th with 6 less races 🔥🔥🔥”

Some diehard Chase Elliott fans rallied in support of the driver. They opined that if not for the No. 9 driver’s emergency absence, he would have beat his rivals for the top spot in points. Somebody commented: “Chase would probably be up with his teammates if it wasn’t for his 7 races missed.” Another fan chimed in: “Wonder how high Chase would be without missing 7 races.”

Someone else also drew up another scenario besides the missing races theory. They noted that Elliott made a rebound not just from a health situation, but from a bad race performance as well. The No. 9 team displayed immense consistency to come to this point. “People noting about chase missing the 7 races. But also in general 2023 was his worst season ever by the stats. So his worst season ever, missing races. And he’s still right there.”

Evidently, Chase Elliott’s redemption story is exciting for NASCAR fans. But Kyle Busch is on the other end of the spectrum, suffering his worst slump as yet. Let us see if he can take a page from Elliott’s book and pick himself up as well.