Chase Elliott has been on an impressive run in the 2024 campaign, especially after a poor run last year. Having missed the playoffs in 2023, the Hendrick Motorsports driver has made up with some incredible consistency this season. That said, will it be enough to secure a title win? Well, it looks tricky given how Michael Jordan’s Cup Series star driver has run this year.

With four races remaining in the regular season, the stakes are high. While the HMS golden boy sits second in the standings, his Hendrick Motorsports teammates; Kyle Larson and William Byron stay strongly in contention for the title as well. Be it the regular season or the championship, the #9 driver faces tough competition despite his consistency this season.

An unexpected rival in the title race other than his HMS teammates

While Chase Elliott is one of the leading contenders, so are Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick. Larson leads the standings with 10 points, whereas Reddick sits below Elliott in third place, 15 points behind the #5 driver. For now, it is anyone’s title to win. There might as well be another driver from these three who could make ground in the remaining four races.

In the first 22 races, the Georgia-born driver finished outside the top 10 only four times. In fact, Elliott has zero DNFs so far this season, the only full-time driver to achieve this feat alongside Martin Truex Jr. What’s more amazing is how effective Chase Elliott has been with his runs. Despite leading just 179 laps and one win, he has 7 top-five and 11 top-10 finishes to his name this campaign.

In comparison to the competition leader Kyle Larson, Elliott hasn’t done much less this year. What makes Chase Elliott a strong competitor for the title is his average finishing position of 10.5 (as per driveraverages.com) this season. That said, Elliott faces a serious threat from 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick in this regard. The Michael Jordan co-owned team has witnessed a fine performance from Reddick this campaign. Like Elliott, the #45 driver has enjoyed a single win this season. However, his consistency is something that should concern the HMS driver.

With 15 top-10 finishes, no driver has finished in the top 10 more frequently than Reddick this season. More importantly, his average finishing position (11.3) remains the second-best behind Elliott. Should the 23XI Racing star continue his impressive form, he remains a constant threat to Elliott and his title aspirations this campaign.

While Elliott prepares to fend off Reddick, his HMS teammate Kyle Larson remains wary of the #9’s consistency.

Why Kyle Larson finds it hard to compete against Chase Elliott?

Undoubtedly, Kyle Larson is one of the finest racers in the NASCAR arena right now. With his dynamic and aggressive style of racing, very few can challenge him when on song. His explosive and tactical driving has earned him four Cup Series wins this campaign. While it has been impressive, Larson admits the threat his teammate Chase Elliott possesses with his consistency.

Not much separates Elliott and Larson in the regular season standings. With the #5 driver enjoying a slim lead of 10 points over the #9 team, the regular season title race is far from sealed. Chase Elliott’s consistency is not to be undermined, as Larson is very mindful of that fact. Before the race at Nashville Superspeedway, the Cup Series leader heaped praise on his teammate.

Larson said, “I mean, there’s still a lot of races left before the playoffs start but we race really well together and it’s been great to see (Elliott’s) team being as strong as they are this year, they’re super consistent. That’s hard to compete against.” Elliott’s game is not to be taken lightly. Despite starting the 2024 season with outside top-10 finishes in the first four races, he bounced back with four consecutive top-five finishes after.

While it is difficult to predict and contain Chase Elliott, his teammates are more than wary of his potential. Despite Tyler Reddick posing a decent threat to Elliott’s consistency, the #9 driver unarguably remains a stronger favorite to win the championship this season.