Among all the big teams (with 3-4 drivers) some drivers are the face of the team and some are at the bottom of the hierarchy. It’s how Ty Gibbs has taken that role at Joe Gibbs Racing, with Christopher Bell as their face.

Or how Chase Elliott has become Hendrick Motorsports ‘4th driver.’ That sounds strange, right? The 2020 champion, the guy piloting his legendary father’s #9 car, the 7-time consecutive winner of the ‘Most Popular Driver’ award.

Until now, this was a position that Alex Bowman held in the team. But Bowman has been even more consistent than Kyle Larson so far. This has led to a discussion and recently a NASCAR insider spoke about ‘what’s wrong with Elliott.’

Recently NASCAR journalist Jeff Gluck also spoke on this. He said, “Like seriously how did how did Chase Elliot become like sort of the fourth Hendrick car. And I mean you could say well wait a minute that’s Bowman. But Bowman has four top 10s this year. He is one of two drivers in the series that four top 10. Him and Byron.”

Look at the other HMS drivers. William Byron, out of the 5 races, finished 4 races in the top 6 and also won the Daytona 500 back-to-back. Larson got three top 10s finishing twice in P3. And like Gluck mentioned, Bowman finished 4 races in the top 10. His best finish was a P6 at the Daytona 500. In fact, Bowman has been one of HMS’ hardest hitters!

Clearly, the Elliott faction is slacking amongst the four. “They (#9 team) come out and win ‘The Clash’ and you’re like yeah okay so here we go like this will be you know maybe a positive year for them again and certainly he’ll be right in the mix. but you know when you get to the end of these stages and you’re like oh yeah the other three Hendrick cars are up here and where’s Chase. You know it’s like dude I don’t get it at all um you just keep waiting for them to break out. But you could say the same thing as you noted for the last few years. Here they come it’s anytime now and it just sort of never happens. It’s so weird I don’t know what to make of it at all,” Gluck added.

Since the next-gen car was launched…the #9 team has been on a bit of a roller coaster ride. They won 5 races in 2022, made the championship 4, and ended the season in P4. Then came 2023, Elliott’s worst season so far, he went winless, did not even make the playoffs, and finished 17th. A win and a P7 finish in 2024 brought some relief to the Elliott fans. But Elliott was never a front-runner for the championship last season. And now 2025 is feeling the same!

The season kicked off on a high note for Elliott. The iconic Bowman Gray Stadium returned to the Cup Series first time since 1971. And Elliott dominated the track from pole to checkered. He led 171 out of the 200 laps and took the win at the season opener. And to everyone, it felt like this might be the year when we’ll see the old dominate Elliott. It was even speculated if he could go win the Daytona 500 back-to-back like his father did in 1987.

But rather he finished the ‘Great American Race,’ in P15. And then at Atlanta, he got a P20. At COTA, Ross Chastain wrecked him on the very first turn of the race. Chase Elliott was spun around but luckily, the damage wasn’t significant for a DNF. Eventually, he climbed to the top 5 and ended 4th. To put it simply, out of the 5 points races so far, Elliott has managed only 3 top 10s. At Phoenix and the recent race in Vegas, he finished with a P10. And this has led to the NASCAR community questioning his race-winning ability. Out of the last 70-point races, he’s only won twice! That’s not like him.

Ahead of the 2025 season, Elliott was optimistic about their championship chances. He had said, “Honestly, I think from my perspective and where I’m at in my career right now is just trying to get more competitive on a weekly basis. And, if we’re accomplishing my goals and our team’s goals on a week-to-week basis, then I think the championship stuff is going to fix itself. You know, you’re eventually going to get your turn. But you’ve got to keep putting yourself in those positions and I think for us, it’s just about having a little more pace, leading some more laps, being more aggressive.”

Could it be the next-gen car? Well, he got 5 wins in 2022, so that can’t be the reason. Are there some internal issues in HMS? Maybe. Well, still a large chunk of the season is left. There is a possibility that Elliott can turn things around. And not just for himself, but for the whole HMS!

It’s not just Elliott, it’s the entire HMS!

In their annual luncheon, team owner Rick Hendrick gave a tagline for the season, ‘”Thrice in 25.” And the way the season kicked off it looked like that HMS is on a roll. First Elliott’s BGS victory and then Byron’s Daytona 500 one. However, if you look closely, they don’t seem that dominant. Yes. Elliott was splendid at ‘The Madhouse’ but that’s not a points race, so technically the win doesn’t matter. At the 500, Byron was never in a position to win. Denny Hamlin should have won the race, but Cole Custer got cocky and wrecked the top field.

This was followed by a three-race winning streak by Christopher Bell, which no HMS driver could break. Finally, a Wood Brothers Racing driver had to take up the responsibility. The streak was broken when Josh Berry won Vegas! The question is when would we get a legitimate points race win come from an HMS driver? Can one of them win Homestead Miami? It would be tough. Tyler Reddick comes as the defending winner of the track. He’s also got the second-best average finish there among the active drivers (9.0). And then there is the threat of an in-form Christopher Bell, who’s got the best average finish there (8.8).

The HMS driver who’s looking the strongest at Miami is Elliott! He has run 9 races so far, with 3 top 5s, 4 top 10s, and an average finish of 9.8. Do you think an HMS driver would win Homestead Miami? And what do you think are their chances for a championship this season? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.