CONCORD, N.C. – Chase Elliott’s win at Pocono Raceway ran his consecutive top-two streak to five races.
During this run, the driver of the No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 has won at Nashville Superspeedway, finished second at Road America, won at his home track of Atlanta Motor Speedway and was the runner-up at New Hampshire Motor Speedway prior to his win at "The Tricky Triangle." The five-race run has seen him extend his points lead from 16 to 105 markers over Ross Chastain as he looks to lock down the regular season championship and the pivotal 15 playoff points that come with it.
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Elliott’s streak is the 10th time since 1998 that a driver has put together at least four top-two results in a row in the NASCAR Cup Series and only the fifth time since then that a driver has had five consecutive top-two finishes.
Of those 10 instances of four-race, top-two finish streaks, seven times have involved a driver with Hendrick Motorsports, according to Racing Insights. Four of the five consecutive top-two streaks that have spanned five races also belong to Hendrick Motorsports.
1998-Jeff Gordon, four races from July 26 at Pocono Raceway to Aug. 16 at Michigan International Speedway – all four races were wins for Gordon
1998-Gordon, five races from Aug. 30 at New Hampshire to Sept. 27 at Martinsville Speedway
1999-Gordon, four races from June 6 at Dover Motor Speedway to June 27 at Sonoma Raceway
2006-Jimmie Johnson, five races from Oct. 14 at Charlotte Motor Speedway to Nov. 12 at Phoenix Raceway
2007-Johnson, four races from Oct. 21 at Martinsville to Nov. 11 at Phoenix – all four races were wins for Johnson
2021-Kyle Larson, six races from May 9 at Darlington Raceway to June 20 at Nashville
2022-Elliott, five races from June 26 at Nashville to July 24 at Pocono – streak is active
Larson had a four-race streak of top-two finishes in 2017 from March 5 at Atlanta to March 26 at Auto Club Speedway during his stint at Chip Ganassi Racing. The longest top-two streak since 1998 belongs to Kevin Harvick, who’s eight-race run spanned the latter three races of his 2014 title run and the first five races of the 2015 season.
This sort of streak has mostly been a good omen for a driver’s championship chances when it has happened at Hendrick Motorsports. Gordon won his third title in 1998 when he had two separate top-two streaks of at least four races. Johnson won the first two of five titles in a row in 2006 and 2007. Larson is the defending championship winner as he hoisted the Bill France Cup in 2021.
Can Elliott extend his streak to six races? Tune in to the Cup Series race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course on Sunday, July 31, at 2:30p.m. ET on NBC as well as IMS Radio Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.