Driving for Hendrick Motorsports means you get an abundance of resources, the best crews, and a platform to shine on the NASCAR stage. But, with this glamorous opportunity comes the demand to win races and championships. This is something HMS star Chase Elliott learned the hard way after making his Cup debut in 2016.

Although Elliott had proven his mettle by advancing to the playoffs in his first and second-year stints, he was yet to notch up a victory. He enjoyed a good phase winning races and championships at the Xfinity level, but once he made the big leap, he hit a dry patch. In 2018, the pressure within the No. 9 team camp was palpable, and nothing less than a win would settle the nerves.

Given Elliott’s strengths, his first Cup win was expected to come at the traditional ovals. He did come close to breaking that winless duck at Richmond Raceway but had to settle for a runner-up finish. 20 races into the season, Elliott had collected five top 5 finishes, and it was only a matter of time before he took the checkered flag. But nobody expected him to kickstart his winning chapter with Hendrick Motorsports with a road course race triumph.

Here’s how Chase Elliott pulled off the win at Watkins Glen International

Coming in 2018, the winless streak had now climbed to 98 races with the road course race at Watkins Glen on the horizon. At a time when rival camps like Joe Gibbs Racing and Stewart Haas Racing were notching up wins, HMS needed to match their strides. Jimmie Johnson was past his peak, and the team needed one of their young stars to step up.

Chase Elliott was a champion in the Xfinity Series with JR Motorsports, so it was evident all eyes were on the #9 team. Crew chief Alan Gustafson recalls what it was like to be in that pressure situation with Elliott, “It just got to the point where it was like, ‘What do we have to do?’ It started to become so big that it was a distraction, and it was something you thought about.” Gustafson revealed this via Hendrick Motorsports.

But Elliott stepped up his game and finally snagged his first win at the Watkins Glen International. It wasn’t a lucky break, but rather a carefully executed strategy that was tailor-made for Elliott to kickstart his winning run. Unwrapping the inside story on Elliott’s debut win at Watkins Glen, Gustafson stated, “I knew the year before. I think the year before we tested Watkins Glen and it was a repave, and we were doing a tire test and running through the motions and testing all the parts and pieces.”

Even Gustafson couldn’t have imagined that this win was only the start of Elliott’s domination on the road courses. In a stretch of eleven races on the road course, Elliott emerged victorious in seven races. This notched his average finish to 9th, which is the best among the active Cup Series drivers. However, the win at Watkins Glen could’ve gone sideways as the #9 team was on a tightrope with the fuel-saving strategy and Martin Truex Jr. charging down on the #9 HMS Chevy.

Before Truex Jr. could make his move on the final lap, the #78 car ran out of fuel, and Elliott was in the clear. The highlight of the victory was Jimmie Johnson helping out his teammate Elliott, who was stalled on the racetrack after running out of gas on his cool-down lap. Johnson guided the #9 Chevy to the start-finish line in what felt like a ‘passing of the torch’ moment. Elliott went on to secure his first Cup Series Championship two years later, in 2020 and cemented himself amongst the grid’s elite drivers.

The 2024 season was indeed somewhat similar to 2018, where the #9 team had to do some soul-searching. While this year’s outcome, when compared to the 2023 run, looks to be on the bright side, Elliott didn’t hit his strides when it mattered the most.

The #9 team failed to switch gears during the 2024 season

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Recovering from the snowboarding debacle and missing the playoffs for the first time in 2023, Chase Elliott and his team registered an early win at Texas Motor Speedway in 2024. Apart from the race win, he had collected six top 5 results going into the playoffs. Consistency wasn’t an issue for the driver, but the lack of race wins certainly proved costly at the clutch moments.

A runner-up finish at Bristol was enough to see him through to the Round of 12 in the playoffs. Then again he had to rely on points to advance further in the knockout stages; a P5 finish at Charlotte Roval helped him reach the Round of 8. Elliott was unlucky as he was caught up in a wreck at Vegas, and he had to settle for a P33 finish. Now, with Homestead and Martinsville up next, he was in a situation where he needed to win.

He wasn’t the only driver who was up against the odds; Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney were also eyeing that one win that would seal their spot in the Championship 4. Now, we all know that Reddick made that last-lap slingshot move hugging the wall to get past Blaney for the win at Homestead. In reply, the Penske star repeated his winning exploits at the Martinsville race, which was mired by race manipulation tactics.

The race saw three drivers, Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain, and Austin Dillon, fined $100,000 for race manipulation and their crew chief was subsequently suspended for the Phoenix finale. Chastain and Dillon held up a Chevy blockade to allow fellow Chevy, William Byron, to maintain his position and qualify for the championship 4. Meanwhile, Bubba Wallace was caught slowing down in his Toyota to aid fellow Toyota driver Christopher Bell. Unfortunately, Bell got loose and rode the wall at Martinsville, which saw him get docked positions and Byron went through. Meanwhile, Elliott was chasing Ryan Blaney for the lead.

Within this chaos and nail-biting finish, Elliott’s hopes of making the final 4 were slowly fading away. He was in contention with a P5 finish at Homestead, but despite trading paints and some beating and banging at Martinsville, he wasn’t able to get past Blaney. It’s clear that lack of wins certainly cost Elliott a shot at the championship. Hopefully, the 2025 season will be a new beginning for the #9 team with the hopes of overturning their misfortunes.