A week after achieving an exhibition victory in the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, Chase Elliott enters the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season with early momentum that he strives to utilize to contend for a second series’ championship at this season’s conclusion. As Elliott prepares to officially commence his 10th campaign as a Cup competitor in this year’s 67th running of the Daytona 500, he will do so with a milestone start in place for the latter event. By competing in the 500, the driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) Chevrolet entry will make his 10th career start in the Great American Race.
A second-generation racer from Dawsonville, Georgia, Elliott rose to early prominence prior to his Daytona 500 debut in 2016 when he claimed the pole position for the event. By then, he had replaced four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon to pilot the No. 24 HMS Chevrolet entry as Gordon had retired from full-time competition following the 2015 season. By notching his first Cup career pole in his first qualifying session driving the No. 24 car, Elliott became the youngest pole winner for the Daytona 500 in history at 20 years of age. He also became the first rookie candidate to achieve the pole for the season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway since Austin Dillon made the previous accomplishment in 2014.
Despite leading the first three laps during his first Daytona 500 from pole position, Elliott’s event went south on the 19th lap when he got sideways and made contact with Carl Edwards entering the frontstretch. As Elliott proceeded to spin towards the frontstretch, he plowed the No. 24 Chevrolet through the tri-oval grass and damaged the front splitter. The damage was enough to knock Elliott out of contention as he settled in 37th place, 40 laps down.
Amid an early exit during his first Daytona 500 campaign, Elliott responded back with vengeance in 2017 by capturing his second consecutive pole for the 59th running of the Great American Race. As a result, he became the first competitor to notch Daytona 500 poles in consecutive seasons since Ken Schrader made the previous accomplishment from 1988 to 1990. In addition, he delivered the third consecutive 500 pole for the No. 24 HMS team and for crew chief Alan Gustafson, the latter of whom became the first crew chief to achieve three consecutive Daytona 500 poles since Elliott’s uncle, Ernie, notched the previous feat from 1985 to 1987 with Elliott’s father, Bill.
Four days later, Elliott then won the first of two Daytona Duels after he led 25 laps and fended Jamie McMurray, Kevin Harvick and the field. As a result, Elliott, who achieved his first non-points victory in the Cup division, became the first competitor to win a Daytona 500 pole and a Daytona Duel event in the same season since his father, Bill, made the previous accomplishment in 1986, a year where the latter would proceed to win the main event. While trying to mirror his father’s accomplishment, Chase Elliott, who led 39 laps, was leading with three laps remaining when he ran out of fuel. As a result of both running out of fuel and losing the draft, he drifted back to 14th place in the final running order.
Compared to his first two Daytona 500 career starts, Elliott did not capture the pole position for the 60th running of the Great American Race in 2018. Nonetheless, he recorded a second consecutive Daytona Duel victory that enabled him to claim the fourth-starting spot for the main event. By then, he was sporting the No. 9 alongside his HMS Chevrolet entry. During the main event, however, Elliott, who led four laps, was racing in second place midway into the second stage period when contact from Brad Keselowski got the former sideways and hitting the Turn 3 outside wall head-on. The vicious accident strapped Elliott with a 33rd-place result in the final running order. The 2018 incident would mark the first of three consecutive Daytona 500 events where Elliott concluded the season-opening race with wrecked race cars despite finishing 17th during his latter two starts in 2019 and 2020.
After wrecking out in his previous three Daytona 500 starts, Elliott, who would claim his first Cup Series championship in 2020, notched a career-best runner-up result in the Great American Race during the 2021 season. His result occurred after he dodged a vicious final-lap multi-car wreck and was edged by Michael McDowell at the moment of caution. Since then, Elliott is coming off respective Daytona 500 results of 10th, 38th and 14th, the latter of which was made this past season.
Through nine previous starts in the Daytona 500, Elliott has achieved two poles, one top-five result, two top-10 results, 85 laps led and an average-finishing result of 20.2 as he continues his pursue for his first victory in the Great American Race. A victory by Elliott in 2025 would make him the 44th competitor overall to win the Great American Race and the first time a competitor named Elliott won the 500 since his father, Bill, made the last accomplishment in 1987. In addition, HMS would become the winningest team of the Daytona 500 at 10 and the Chevrolet nameplate would achieve its 27th 500 victory.
This week, Elliott, who finished in seventh place in the 2024 driver’s standings, will participate in a single-car qualifying session on Wednesday, February 12, and in one of two Duel events on Thursday, February 13, to determine his starting lineup for this year’s Daytona 500. The qualifying session on Wednesday will begin airing at 8:15 p.m. ET on FS1 while the Duels will begin airing at 7 p.m. ET on FS1.
The 2025 Daytona 500 is scheduled to occur this upcoming Sunday, February 16, with a starting broadcast time of 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
