Chase Elliott isn’t just another name on the NASCAR roster. He’s the fan favorite! The 2020 Cup champ, Most Popular Driver for seven straight years, and son of Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, Chase carries legacy, pressure, and passion every time he hits the track. Whether it’s Martinsville magic or road course mastery, fans have watched him rise from rookie buzz to title contender.
But lately, something’s felt… off.
Not in the stats necessarily, but in the way some people talk about him. Whispers of decline, burnout, even comparisons to a past great, Dale Earnhardt Jr., who long-time fans might recall, once hit a rough patch. But are those criticisms fair? Or are fans reacting too quickly to a quiet stretch? As always in NASCAR, Reddit had something to say.
And they didn’t hold back.
Over the past few seasons, Chase Elliott’s journey in NASCAR has been anything but predictable. After clinching the Cup Series championship in 2020, many expected him to dominate the years ahead. In 2021 and 2022, he remained a consistent front-runner. Elliott finished the 2021 season in the 4th position and even secured the regular season title in 2022. However, his fourth-place finish in the championship race was a bit disheartening.
Then came 2023—a year that derailed everything. An injury from a snowboarding accident sidelined him for multiple races. Elliott had suffered a fractured tibia in a snowboarding accident in 2023, missing six races due to surgery and recovery. Just as he returned, Elliott faced a one-race suspension for intentionally wrecking Denny Hamlin at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. The season ended without a win and outside the Playoffs (17th position), a first in his full-time career.
2024 saw glimpses of the old Chase again. Though not always the fastest car, his consistency kept him in the Playoff hunt all season. He made it to the Round of 8 before being eliminated, finishing the year 7th in points. It wasn’t a championship run, but it was a much-needed reset after the chaos of 2023. “We were really, really solid in a lot of areas, truthfully,” Elliott summed up his 2024 season.
The 2025 season began with a bit of cautious optimism for Chase Elliott fans. So far, he’s delivered—not in dominant fashion, but with remarkable consistency. He’s fourth in the standings, with five top-10s and two top-5s in the first eight races. Ahead of Miami, Elliott said, “There’s been some high spots, there’s been some low spots. I thought the first three weeks, four weeks if you include the Clash in there (won by Elliott), were all really good. Had really fast cars and cars that did, truthfully, exactly what I wanted. We crashed the first three weeks of the season, so that was unfortunate. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that Phoenix (10th-place finish) or Vegas (10th) were good because they weren’t. I know that and you know that. We just need to keep plugging away and try to find some good runs.”
Still, not everyone’s impressed. On Reddit, a wave of criticism has started brewing. Some even compared him to a declining Dale Earnhardt Jr. But as fans quickly pointed out, that take might be missing the full picture.
Fans fire back – “Where’s the decline?”
The Chase Elliott criticism didn’t sit well with many fans, especially when someone compared his current run to Dale Jr’s rough 2009 season. One Reddit user shot back, “People talking like he’s having a Dale Jr 2009-like decline while he’s 4th in points lol.” And they’ve got a point. Elliott’s average finish in 2025 so far? He has averaged 11.125 over eight races, just 59 points behind the leader, William Byron. Dale Jr.’s 2009 season over 36 races, on the other hand, looked like this:
- Average Finish – 23.25
- Top 5 Finishes – only 2
- Top 10 Finishes – only 5
- Average Start – 22.2
- Poles – 0
Now, Elliott’s 2025 performance looks commendable, doesn’t it?
Another fan added, “His average finish right now is the best it’s ever been in his career. Where’s the decline?” For context, Chase’s previous best average finish came in his 2020 championship season, when it was 11.7. In 2023, it dipped to 13.07—largely due to missed races and the post-suspension slump. This year? He’s been consistent, if not flashy. And there’s still a long way to go in the 2025 season.
Of course, that doesn’t mean everyone sees him as a weekly threat. One user wrote, “I think he’s just a mean of winning 2 races a year guy, which ain’t a bad place to be.” That might be fair. Elliott has averaged roughly two wins per season since 2019, and he hasn’t yet visited victory lane in 2025. But, with the way he’s running, it’s likely coming.
Some believe the dip began with that chaotic 2023 stretch. “I feel like the injury just sorta took him out of racing, mentally,” a fan speculated. “He got suspended by hooking Hamlin. I think he just stopped caring a bit.” The stats back that up. He missed six races and never quite regained form. Even Chase Elliott has acknowledged that “Something is really wrong,” reflecting on his slump post-2023 injury.
And then there’s the Kenseth comparison: “Chase is a Matt Kenseth in the next gen car and the system is specifically built to prevent Matt Kenseth from winning a championship.” That’s… oddly accurate. Kenseth made his debut in what is now called the Xfinity Series in 1996. He kept winning there consistently and built a name on clean, steady driving.
However, when he made the leap to the Cup Series full-time in 2000, his quiet consistency clashed with what NASCAR eventually craved: chaos and drama. Kenseth won the 2003 Cup Series championship with only one win but unmatched consistency. Chase Elliott, in a way, is cut from the same cloth. He racks up points through consistent top-10s but rarely dominates like Larson or Byron. In today’s elimination-based format, consistency alone doesn’t cut it. Elliott’s driving style might be perfect for the old points system. But now, it’s win-or-go-home.
So, where does that leave Chase Elliott? Is he a victim of NASCAR’s evolving format? Or simply a great driver in the wrong era But one thing’s for sure – he isn’t on a decline like Dale Jr. was in 2009!
The post Chase Elliott Gets NASCAR Fan Backing as Dale Earnhardt Jr-Like Decline Criticism Gets Blasted appeared first on EssentiallySports.
