Chase Elliott “extremely proud” of Hendrick Motorsports' latest achievement

Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott's #9 Chevy crew was named the Most Valuable Pit Crew of the season by Mechanix Wear for their performance in the playoffs. Elliott was impressed by the hard work his team members put in and praised them for delivering a solid performance when it mattered the most.

The Mechanix Wear evaluates the performance of the pit crews based on a playoff-based metric system. The system weighs factors including pit stop speed, positions gained or lost during the pit stop, and the overall strength of each stop. The #9 Chevy team performed exceptionally well in all these criteria and delivered the best performance throughout the postseason in 2025.

The team's resiliency and hard work kept the #9 Chevy driver, Chase Elliott, in the playoff contention. Elliott praised his pit crew for their consistency and stated (via HendrickMotorsports.com):

“I’m extremely proud of our whole group. They did an exceptional job all year, and I’ve touched on how impressed I was at Phoenix and the drive to want to continue to work hard and lay it all out there, even though we weren’t in the playoffs."

"They just had an incredible performance on pit road and an amazing way to cap off the season. I’m extremely grateful for their attitudes, their approach, how they pick me up when I’m down or whatever it takes; they’re willing to rise to the occasion," he added.

Chase Elliott wrapped the 2025 Cup Series season in eighth place. He clinched two victories, 19 top tens, and 11 top fives in 36 starts this season. Additionally, the #9 Chevy driver led 454 laps with an average finish of 12.611.

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“It would be better than what we have” - Chase Elliott expressed his views on the rumored 2026 Cup Series format

Ahead of the 2025 postseason, the former Cup Series champion Chase Elliott was featured in a pre-race interview with NASCAR journalist Dalton Hopkins. During the interaction ahead of the Darlington race, Elliott shared his take on the rumored playoff format for the 2026 season.

The governing body currently follows the 3-3-3-1 playoff format with three races each round of the championship battle. Each round eliminates four drivers from the grid until only four remain to compete in the Championship 4 race. However, the sanctioning body aims to change the format in the next season to keep the sport engaging for fans.

Reflecting on the same, Chase Elliott broke the silence and told the press:

"I think it would be better than what we have... Because you just have a larger amount of races at around to decide. You know, it could, it would, seemingly, would give an opportunity to, you know, have something that's totally out of somebody's hands, not completely derail their championship. What is now, you know, their shop. So, it seems like, is it perfect? Probably not. But I would say that that sounds better."

Chase Elliott debuted in the Cup Series a decade ago in 2015 with Hendrick Motorsports. He drove the #25 Chevy during his rookie season as a part-time driver for the team. He then landed his first full-time seat in 2016 and piloted the #24 Chevy for two seasons before transitioning to #9 in 2018.