NASCAR: Chase Elliott is saving Hendrick Motorsports from irrelevancy

Without Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports, which are by far the most successful team in NASCAR Cup Series history, would be all but irrelevant.

Hendrick Motorsports have earned an all-time record 252 NASCAR Cup Series victories and an all-time record 12 Cup Series championships, making them by far the most successful team in the history of the sport.

But the overall performance of the once powerhouse team has declined in recent years. The four-driver team, which consists of William Byron, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott and Jimmie Johnson, are at the point where they would be irrelevant if not for the fact that one of their four drivers has kept them afloat.

If not for Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports would be irrelevant in their current state.

Yes, the 23-year-old Dawsonville, Georgia native who was dubbed “Chokin’ Chase Who Can’t Win A Race” by his critics due to his disappointing collection of late-race blown-leads until he earned his first career Cup Series victory in his 99th career start at Watkins Glen International in August of 2018 is the lone force keeping the most successful team in Cup Series history from irrelevancy.

It’s harsh. It’s a harsh reality. But nevertheless, it’s still a reality.

Aside of the first three victories of Elliott’s career, which all took place in the 2018 season with him behind the wheel of the #9 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports’ most recent victory came in July of 2017 when Kasey Kahne, who retired after driving for Leavine Family Racing in the first 25 races of the 2018 season, won the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

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The 2019 season is Hendrick Motorsports’ second season with their current driver lineup, as Byron replaced Kahne and Bowman replaced Dale Earnhardt Jr. following the conclusion of the 2017 season. But the team’s three active drivers aside of Elliott and the two drivers who recently departed from the team have not even come close to having the level of success that Elliott has had in recent seasons.

Aside of Elliott’s 10th place finish in the 2016 championship standings, his fifth place finish in the 2017 standings and his sixth place finish in the 2018 standings, the only top 10 finishes in the standings recorded by a Hendrick Motorsports driver other than Elliott since Elliott became a full-time driver in the 2016 season are Johnson’s 2016 championship and his 10th place finish in the 2017 season.

In the 2016 season, Johnson won the championship while Kahne and Earnhardt Jr., who missed 18 races due to concussion-related symptoms, finished in 17th and 32nd place, respectively, in the championship standings.

In the 2017 season, Johnson, Kahne and Earnhardt Jr. finished in 10th, 16th and 23rd place, respectively, in the championship standings. In the 2018 season, Johnson, Bowman and Byron finished in 14th, 16th and 23rd, respectively, in the standings.

Byron, the 21-year-old who hails from Charlotte, North Carolina, has recorded just one top 14 finish in his last 20 races. The driver of the #24 Chevrolet finished in ninth place in the race at ISM Raceway in November of 2018, which is his highest finish during this 20-race span. His average finish over the course of these 20 races is a ridiculously underwhelming 24.20. He has not earned a single victory or even a top five finish in 42 career starts.

In this 20-race span since Byron last finished a race in the top eight and during which he has recorded only one top 14 finish, Elliott has recorded 14 top 14 finishes, including 10 top seven finishes, six top five finishes, four top three finishes and two victories.

In his last 16 races, Bowman, the 25-year-old who hails from Tucson, Arizona, has recorded just one top 10 finish. The driver of the #88 Chevrolet finished in ninth place in the race at Kansas Speedway in October of 2018, which is his highest finish during this 16-race span. His average finish of the course of these 16 races is a disappointing 16.69. He has not earned a single victory in 123 career starts, including 51 as a Hendrick Motorsports driver.

In this 16-race span since Bowman last finished a race in the top eight and during which he has recorded only one top 10 finish, Elliott has recorded seven top 10 finishes (all top nine finishes), including six top seven finishes, three top two finishes and two victories.

As far as Johnson is concerned, there is no other way to put it; he is washed up. I know he’s a seven-time Cup Series champion and one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history, arguably even the greatest in the eyes of some fans.

But he is washed up. Period. I don’t know how this could possibly be made more clear. Deny it all you want to. It’s a fact. Even if he manages to win another race or two before he retires to add to his current win total of 83, which is tied for sixth place on the all-time Cup Series wins list, he is not going to get back to the level he was at that made him the seven-time champion he is today, and he likely will not even come close.

Johnson’s career-long win drought was 24 races before his active win drought began after he won the race at Dover International Speedway in June of 2017. His active win drought is now at 65 races. But this isn’t even half of what illustrates Johnson’s struggles.

The 43-year-old El Cajon, California native has not even finished a single race in the top six since he finished in fifth place in the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May of 2018. In other words, he is now on a top six drought that is longer than what his career-long win drought was prior to his active win drought, as he has not finished in the top six in any of his last 29 starts.

In addition, Johnson’s most recent top four finish is his third place finish in the race at Bristol Motor Speedway in April of 2018, so his top four drought currently sits at 34 races, as this race took place nearly one full year ago.

There are several — in fact, many — other statistics, many of which being career-low statistics that he has recorded within the last two seasons, that point to the fact that Johnson is clearly on the decline.

Meanwhile, in the 34-race span since Johnson last finish a race in the top three and during which he has recorded only one top six finish, Elliott has recorded 13 top six finishes, including 11 top five finishes, seven top three finishes and the first three victories of his Cup Series career.

Elliott’s second place finish in this past Sunday’s STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway is by far Hendrick Motorsports’ top finish of the season. If not for his second place finish in this race, the team’s top finish would be Johnson’s eighth place finish in the race at ISM Raceway earlier this month.

Elliott’s second place finish in this race is also his top finish, Hendrick Motorsports’ top finish and Chevrolet’s top finish since he won the round of 12 playoff race at Kansas Speedway in October of 2018.

In terms of the championship standings, Elliott sits in ninth place as not only the top Hendrick Motorsports driver (by far) but as the top Chevrolet driver. Meanwhile, Johnson sits in a 15th tie with Stewart-Haas Racing’s Daniel Suarez while Bowman sits right behind them in 17th and Byron sits a little bit farther back in 21st.

Fortunately for Hendrick Motorsports and for NASCAR in general, Elliott is the heir to Earnhardt Jr. as the sport’s most popular driver. After Earnhardt Jr. won the Most Popular Driver Award in 15 consecutive seasons to close out his Cup Series career, Elliott won it for the first time last season.

It does not appear that anyone will even come close to preventing this from happen in the foreseeable future. Elliott’s father, Bill Elliott, won this award an all-time record 16 times over the course of his career.

So there could not possibly be a better driver than Chase Elliott to have success for the team when they would otherwise be irrelevant, and this is exactly what he has been doing.

Will Hendrick Motorsports get it together as a team at any point in the near future? Will Chase Elliott continue to carry the team if they do not? How successful will he be if they do, and how successful will he be if they do not? The 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season is still in its opening stages, but the lack of success that the team have had stems far beyond their struggles to open up this season.