Denny Hamlin Declares Chase Elliott Isn’t a Driver That Can Dominate Races

Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott’s racing style is much different from his fellow championship contenders according to Denny Hamlin.

Denny Hamlin Declares Chase Elliott Isn’t a Driver That Can Dominate Races

Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin (Via IMAGO)

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The NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway on Sunday was a massive disappointment for Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott. An untimely pit call from crew chief Alan Gustafson just ahead of the rain, ruined his chances. Race winner Denny Hamlin shared his thoughts on the dramatic situation.

Analyzing the dramatic result on the Actions Detrimental podcast, Denny Hamlin highlighted how Chase Elliott isn’t a dominating driver like his teammates Kyle Larson or many such big names in the sport. The Dover run last Sunday was just an outlier, as the No:9 driver is type of a racer that often leads between 100-200 laps, secure good finishes if not a win, unlike other that can just top every aspect of the weekend.

To me it felt like one of his stronger performances…I just feel as though Chase is one of those guys that leads 100-200 laps in races, right? He’ll get you really good finishes and he’ll get you some wins, but it’s not dominating.

Denny Hamlin said via Actions Detrimental.

In the same podcast, Hamlin explained how being consistent and taking advantage of the performance drop of other front-runners has helped Chase Elliott to lead the regular season title race. The likes of William Byron, Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin, experienced huge slump the last two months, while the 2020 Champion delivered consistently.

Six weeks ago, he was 10th to 15th every week and then would finish in the top 10 because attrition and whatever, and now he’s leading. A lot of it is [William] Byron‘s had a very tough couple months. All of us guys at the top, there was three or four of us that had major issues. Chase doesn’t have those.

Denny Hamlin added.

At the start of the season, the fans were disappointed with the No:9 teams’ strategy of not going on all out attack for wins and being more conservative, to score points. But according to Hamlin the team has turned some corners, while following the same path, making them much strong that how they started 2025. None of the other championship contenders can make a similar claim of consistent rise in performance.

He’s made a massive run, and it’s not just because of this one week. I’ve just feel like they’ve turned the corner, and they are stronger now than what they were.

Denny Hamlin asserted.

Chase Elliott shares his thoughts on the disappointing result

In a conversation with the media after the race, Chase Elliott share his thoughts on a disappointing end to his race after a solid start from the pole position. He admitted that though it isn’t all sunshine and rainbows for him at the moment, he is hopeful that his team can bounce back as there is enough time for them to recover.

Chase Elliott
Chase Elliott (Via Imago)

You know you’re still early enough in the event at that point that there’s still a lot of time to recover. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows all the time, so you just have to deal with whatever comes your way, and we had an issue come our way and I felt like we’ve dealt with it well.

Chase Elliott said.

With five more races left in the regular season before the playoff starts, Chase Elliot seems to have two significant goals. The first one is secure at least one more race win in the season, and gather some momentum to his side, alongside some playoff points. Second is to secure his second Next-Gen era regular season championship.

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