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DAYTONA BEACH, FL – FEBRUARY 11: Chase Elliott 9 Hendrick Motorsports Napa Auto Parts Chevrolet prepares to enter his race car prior to practice for the NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Cup Series Daytona 500 on February 11, 2026 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, FL. Photo by Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire AUTO: FEB 11 NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon260211642500
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DAYTONA BEACH, FL – FEBRUARY 11: Chase Elliott 9 Hendrick Motorsports Napa Auto Parts Chevrolet prepares to enter his race car prior to practice for the NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Cup Series Daytona 500 on February 11, 2026 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, FL. Photo by Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire AUTO: FEB 11 NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon260211642500
If there’s one thing that’s always stood between Chase Elliott and victory, it’s luck. Among countless instances, we saw it during Elliott’s 2023 leg injury that almost derailed his career. We also saw it during this year’s Daytona 500 when a late-race crash turned his win into a P4 finish. But nothing compares to that one race 13 years ago.
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While 2011 saw Eliott become the youngest driver to win Snowball Derby at 16 years of age, he hit a curveball so intense on a December afternoon just two years later, it still haunts him to this day.
“The hardest loss was having that Snowball Derby taken away (due to a 2013 disqualification) — that really sucked. I’d love to have that whole situation back; it could have very easily been avoided. Outside of that one, those were great years. And then really, the NASCAR thing started directly after that,” Elliott said in an interview with Jeff Gluck. And, unlike NASCAR’s appeal process, Elliott and his team had to pay the price for their muckup.
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Believe it or not, Elliott was made to strip his firesuit by the officials on suspicion of digital tampering. But later, after applying the same procedure to Elliott’s race car, they found an illegal object, tungsten. Snowball Debry allows the use of lead to offset the weight of the car and the setup. In this aftermath, Erik Jones, who finished second, was awarded the race win. But there was more to this drama, and a possible plot by the rival faction to derail Elliott’s winning run.
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NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Cup Practice Feb 11, 2026 Daytona Beach, Florida, USA NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Elliott 9 during practice for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Daytona Beach Daytona International Speedway Florida USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xMikexDinovox 20260211_mcd_ad4_33
There was a rumor going around the garage that Jones and the KBM team provided a tip to Five Flags Speedway chief technical inspector Ricky Brooks. Seeing things getting out of hand, Brooks had to break his silence on the incident. “I don’t know where that rumor came from. Not that it matters because once you lay it out in front of everyone, wrong is wrong.” On the other hand, Elliott pleaded his case, claiming he and his team had no knowledge of the tungsten used in their race car.
“Everybody is entitled to their opinion, and I am not going to take that away from anybody. You are going to have people that understand the situation and I respect that. I have been lucky to have a lot of support from a lot of racers and a lot of fans,” Elliott explained. This was a tough blow for the No. 9 team, but as fate would have it, they would have their Snowball win very soon, and this time Elliott got a payback he didn’t even plan.
Come 2015, Christopher Bell found himself in the victory lane driving a Kyle Busch Motorsports car. But a technical inspection by Ricky Brooks deemed the car to be illegal. The left side weight for Bell’s car was at a 58.3% ratio, violating the limit of 58.0%. Ironically, Chase Elliott, who finished second behind Bell, was handed over the Tom Dawson Trophy. Yet, even in this moment of elation and feeling of getting one back, he tipped his hat to his rivals.
“I think he did a really good job, and he deserves a lot of credit for getting the job done on the racetrack. I’ve been there and I know how it feels. I wanted to crawl in a hole two years ago,” Elliott said after the race. Bell led 93 laps, but had to go home empty-handed, and Elliott, who just led 3 laps, got his second Snowball Derby honors.
And talk about winning races and titles, the HMS driver is on the right track and emerging as one of the top contenders.
Chase Elliott on the 2026 season and title contention
Chevrolet has been struggling to win this season as the Toyota dominance continues, but it was Elliott who managed to bring the manufacturer and HMS their first win of the season at Martinsville. While this would have been enough to put him in a title contention up until last year, the picture has now massively changed. NASCAR is now following the Chase format, and it demands maximum consistency.
The drivers are trying to extract the most points out of every passing race, and even Elliott feels that is the only way to make themselves a strong contender this year.
“I mean, I think it’s pretty simple, really. You need to be able to win on almost a weekly basis. You need to be leading laps, winning races and doing all the things that champions do. That’s pretty simple to me,” he said, speaking to the media.
While it seems quite apparent to him and to the rest of the drivers, Chase Elliott isn’t exactly following up with this. Sure, he has been rather consistent, but so far, he has won only a single race. And considering the performance the Chevys have been delivering so far, it is tough to say if their drivers will be able to have a strong championship contention, especially considering how big a part of the field Toyota covers.
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Edited by
Suyashdeep Sason