Chase Elliott got off to arguably the best start of his NASCAR Cup Series career this season. The driver of the No. 9 was the victor of the seventh race of the 2026 campaign at Martinsville Speedway, the earliest he had ever won a race in a Cup Series season.
Four races later, Elliott was in victory lane again after taking the checkered flag at Texas Motor Speedway. After 11 races, Elliott had totaled two wins, five top-five finishes and ranked third in the points standings.
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As strong as Elliott began the 2026 season, it has been all downhill since his Texas win. Elliott has failed to win in the last 18 races and has only posted one top-five finish. NASCAR’s defending most popular driver also has eight finishes worse than 20th in the last 18 races.
With the fourth race of the Chase ahead at the Kansas Speedway, Elliott ranks 12th in the points standings, 117 points behind leader Kyle Larson. Elliott has failed to finish better than 14th through the first three Chase races.
Can Elliott’s season turn around on Sunday at Kansas?
Elliott finds himself in a slump but Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 could be where he turns the momentum in his favor.
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The Hendrick Motorsports star enters Sunday’s race as the defending winner of the Hollywood Casino 400. Elliott won last year’s race in thrilling fashion as he passed Denny Hamlin for the victory in the final turn of the race after Hamlin got together with Bubba Wallace entering turn 3 in a battle for the lead.
Elliott is a two-time Kansas winner with his other triumph at the 1.5-mile track coming in October 2018. Aside from his wins, Elliott has shown consistency at Kansas with six top 10s in the last seven races. Elliott finished eighth in the April Kansas race earlier this year.
Elliott has proven speed on 1.5-mile tracks this season overall as he finished runner-up to Denny Hamlin at Las Vegas earlier this year. The Cup Series circuit heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway the week after the Hollywood Casino 400.
With two tracks upcoming where Elliott ran top 10 this season, and one of them being a track he was a winner last year, this could be the perfect opportunity for Elliott to turn his season around.
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A look at Chase Elliott’s slump in the NASCAR Cup Series
After his second victory of the 2026 season last May at Texas, Elliott proceeded to score a 24th-place finish at Watkins Glen. The performance of the No. 9 has continued to decline ever since.
Elliott placed 37th at the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte after a wreck ended his race early. While he bounced back with a seventh-place run at Nashville, Elliott had another DNF the following week at Michigan after a crash with Christopher Bell.
Elliott proceeded to finish 11th, 12th, 17th, 11th, 13th and 17th in the next six straight races before suffering another DNF in the Brickyard 400.
The Georgia native found a bright spot two races later with a fifth-place finish at Richmond. Since then, however, Elliott has only turned over a best finish of 14th.
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