LONG POND, Pa. – The story of Chase Elliott’s 2025 Cup Series season has been consistency. The No. 9 team battled throughout the weekend at Pocono Raceway, but ultimately salvaged another strong finish.
The Alan Gustafson-led team fought the handling during Saturday’s practice and qualifying session. Hendrick Motorsports had a sluggish qualifying effort overall, with Elliott leading the way in the 18th starting position. The No. 9 car ranked third in single-lap average for practice, but wasn’t pleased with the car’s balance.
In a strategy-filled The Great American Getaway 400, Elliott snagged three stage points in Stage 1. He moved up the leaderboard to third in Stage 2, tallying 11 total stage points on the afternoon.
After the final caution, Elliott cycled out fourth once the race resumed. He dropped to fifth in the waning laps, as Chris Buescher passed the No. 9 Chevrolet. Elliott, though pleased with the rebound from the No. 9 team compared to Saturday, wasn’t content with a fifth-place outing.
“It’s not what we’re after,” Elliott said. “But it’s good for us to miss as bad as we missed yesterday from a balance perspective and get ourselves up in the hunt. We were right in the mix. I made too many mistakes in [Turn] 3, that was my weakness. Lots of gains from yesterday and it was nice for us to get up in there and battle. We just needed a little bit.”
With a third-place finish last weekend at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Elliott has consecutive top fives for the first time since last fall in the Round of 8 at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville Speedway.
“Always good to get top fives, especially when we were off as bad as we were yesterday,” Elliott added. “It’s nice to come back and get a top five. Again, not what we’re here to do.”
With his ninth top-10 finish of the season, Elliott now has the best average finish in the series at 10.8. With Chase Briscoe securing his first victory with Joe Gibbs Racing, Elliott is 12th on the playoff grid, with a 120-point cushion over the elimination line.