Don’t Rule Out the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Champion for the 2026 Championship
Chase Elliott has quietly been one of the top contenders in the NASCAR Cup Series. On a Hendrick Motorsports team that has seen Kyle Larson and William Byron perform as the top drivers over the past couple of years, Elliott currently leads the team in points. He has scored two wins this season at Martinsville and Texas. He is currently projected to clinch a spot in the 2026 Cup Series Chase in the next two weeks. In a season dominated by Toyotas from 23XI Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Champion should not be counted out for the 2026 Championship.
The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion currently sits fifth in the standings with 634 points. He not only leads Hendrick in the points, but Chevrolet as a whole, as the four drivers in front of Elliott in points are three Toyotas and the Ford of Ryan Blaney. This is a comeback performance for the Dawsonville, Georgia driver. Since the 2023 snowboarding accident that left him with a fractured left tibia, Hendrick Motorsports' fan favorite had struggled to stay competitive amongst his teammates at Hendrick Motorsports. He earned just three victories in 2024 and 2025 and failed to advance to the championship four in both years. In 2022, before the accident, he earned five wins, the regular-season championship, and locked himself in the championship four on points a race early.
It’s hard to say whether the 2014 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Champion will be able to catch up enough to earn the championship. Denny Hamlin has seemed to ignore Father Time so far in 2026. Gibbs’ 45-year-old superstar currently sits 198 points ahead of Elliott. Tyler Reddick has also been dominant this season, being the first driver ever to win the first three races of the season. The two-time Xfinity Series champion has 774 points, 141 ahead of Elliott. To get to the points lead, the Napa machine will not only have to beat one of his longtime Cup Series rivals in Hamlin, but also a driver who made NASCAR history earlier this season in Reddick.
The bright side for Elliott is that he knows how to come from behind during the Chase. In 2020, the second-generation racing star entered the final race of the Round of Eight in fifth place, out of the championship four lineup. During the race at Martinsville, the eight-time Most Popular Driver Award winner drove up from eighth place in just one stage and made his way into the championship four. He kept that momentum up at Phoenix and beat out Joey Logano for the title. In 2026, Elliott is in a similar situation as we near the start of the Chase, a frontrunner who is just behind the true dominating forces in the series. If the Dawsonville native can stay as consistent as he has been and win a couple more races, he may take home his second NASCAR Cup Series Championship this season.
