Chase Elliott in prime position for major NASCAR accolade in 2025 after top 10 result at Dover

Following a sixth-place finish at Dover Motor Speedway, Chase Elliott took the top seed in the standings from Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron. He puts himself in a prime position to win the regular season championship with five races left before the NASCAR Playoffs.

Elliott, 29, started the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Dover on pole position after NASCAR used its qualifying metric due to a cancelled qualifying session. He won stage one before crossing the line in fourth at the end of stage two. Eventually, he finished in sixth place to score 48 points, 31 points more than Byron, who was involved in a race-ending crash with Noah Gragson on lap 393.

NASCAR shared on X the current top four drivers in the standings after the double OT action at the Monster Mile, where Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin won.

“After Dover, @chaseelliott took the regular-season points lead with five races remaining until the #NASCARPlayoffs.”

Chase Elliott sits at the top of the standings with one win, seven top-5s and 12 top-10s. He doesn't have as many wins as drivers like Denny Hamlin (4) and Kyle Larson (3). But he kept his #9 Chevrolet Camaro out of trouble with zero DNFs.

The Dawsonville native is followed by William Byron, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick in the standings. Completing the top 10 are Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Alex Bowman and Chris Buescher.

Chase Elliott driving the #9 Chevrolet Camaro at Dover Motor Speedway - Source: Imagn

NASCAR is set for 160 laps of racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway next week. The Brickyard 400 is scheduled for July 27 at 2:00 p.m. ET on TNT Sports.

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“I think their best performance of the year”: NASCAR Insider on Chase Elliott and #9 Hendrick Motorsports team at Dover

Despite failing to convert the pole position to a win at Dover Motor Speedway, NASCAR Insider Jordan Bianchi argued that Chase Elliott had his best outing of the year. He believes the #9 Hendrick Motorsports team was fast throughout the race and was in the fight for a strong finish.

In the latest episode of The Teardown podcast, Bianchi told co-host Jeff Gluck:

“I think this was a phenomenal race for Chase Elliott. The result is going to say sixth, but this was to me, and I understand they won at Atlanta. This was a great performance and I think their best performance of the year. They were consistently fast throughout the entire race. They won a stage today, by the way, which is the first time they've done that all year.” [18:14]

He added:

“They did the things today that we have talked about them not doing, leading a bunch of laps, winning a stage, putting themselves in position. This wasn't a team that was just grinding out another top 10. This was a team that was in the mix and was a team to beat today.”

The race at the Monster Mile witnessed Elliott lead for 238 of 407 laps and win a stage for the first time in the 2025 NASCAR season. He also continued his streak of not finishing outside the top 20 this year.

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Edited by Luke Koshi