Dale Earnhardt Jr. Declares Chase Elliott Can Dethrone Kyle Larson to be the ‘Main Guy at HMS’

Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott was arguably driven in 2022, the first season the Next-Gen car was debuted, where he won the regular season championship. But after a tibia injury in a snowboarding accident, the performance slumped resulting in a below average 2023 and 2024 season. But this year marked his return to being the solid racer he is and everyone in the community including Dale Earnhardt Jr. is impressed with him.

Chase Elliott won two races in 2025, scored 11 top-5s, 19 top-10s and finished P8 in the points table with a better average finish (12.6) that his teammate Kyle Larson (13.2) who won the championship. This has inspired Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. to declare the No:9 Chevy driver is capable of becoming the main guy at HMS yet again and believes he is going to get rewarded for the consistency soon, starting from the 2026 season.

Chase Elliott is a champion, and before Larson, he was the guy at Hendrick. I’m still holding out. You know, I hope that he gets himself back to the top. They got some work done in that regard this year. I saw some consistency and performance in that team that I think they’ve been looking for.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said via Dale Jr. Download podcast.

Further talking about the point, the veteran addressed NASCAR plans to change the playoffs format for the 2026 season and how it’s going to affect the racer. He asserted that Chase Elliott is surly one of the elite racers capable pf taking advantage of the change. If the sport go back to a season finale round with a bigger sample size, a consistent racer like the No:9 HMS Chevy driver can be more productive than the rest.

I think that the format change could really help that team. No matter whether it’s 3-3-4 or just straight 10, it’s all the same to me…I think that, you know, Chase is definitely a guy that you could look at as somebody who could put together the 10 races needed to be right in the mix going into Homestead.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. added.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be more nervous in the 2026 Daytona 500 than Chase Elliott

Despite the solid 2025 season, Chase Elliott will be starting his 2026 season at Daytona nervous. But Hall of Famer Dale Jr. will be more nervous than him, as his team JR Motorsport will make second Cup start, with a superspeedway start just like they did this year. He is anxious about how his driver Justin Allgaier is going to perform.

I’m nervous because we’re going to have a new body. Anytime a manufacturer gets a new body, they don’t go to Dyatona and perform better. You’re figuring out kind of what makes that body perform at a track like that.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said.

In the same conversation, he addressed how the changes made the Chevy Camaro ZL1 is going to affect them. When manufacturers change design, they often struggle at the start, despite the fact that the new design is intended to make them competitive. It’s going to more hard for a part-time side to get things right unlike a full-time team.

I don’t know details, I just shoot it straight. Every time a manufacturer changes the body, they’re trying their best in every way, when a new body is coming in, to make their cars more competitive at the tracks that we race the most.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. added.

The comments from the Hall of Famer seems rational, considering the better JRM does in the Cup outing the more he gets inspired to bring Earnhardt brand full-time to the top division. It would be interesting to see how everything is going to playout for the team in the coming years.

Also Read: Ray Evernham Reveals the “Key Person” Behind Hendrick Motorsports’ NASCAR Dominance

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