“We Gave it Our All!” Denny Hamlin Laments Martinsville Cup Race Loss to Chase Elliott

Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin has shared his thoughts on losing the 2026 Martinsville NASCAR Cup Series race to Chase Elliott.

“We Gave it Our All!” Denny Hamlin Laments Martinsville Cup Race Loss to Chase Elliott

Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin (Via IMAGO)

The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville witnessed Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin going all out for the win, leading over 292 laps only to finish P2 behind Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott. It marked the first ever win for a Chevy team in the 2026 season, that so far has been dominated by Toyota.

Till the No:9 team took a gamble and pitted early on the final stage, the No:11 car had the control of race. But the pit-strategy gave Rick Hendrick’s team the advantage as Chase Elliott dominated the last 80 laps for the win. Talking about it, the Joe Gibbs Racing veteran admitted that he gave everything only to lose the race.

No, he did a good job of controlling the pace there. It just really came from that bad restart that I had beside the 1. Just not much really I could have done there. Felt like we gave it our all.

Denny Hamlin told Fox Sports after the race.

Further talking about his race, Denny Hamlin admitted that there was some discomfort with his car towards the end of the race, which negatively affected his performance. The veteran sees this as one of the many races over the years that got away from, probably in order to move on easily from the disappointment.

I thought I had a loose wheel. We’ll check it out. Just felt similar to Darlington in the back. So, we’ll check it out here, but just thought the wheel was loose on that last run. But either way we got … these are just some of the races that get away from you in your career, and this certainly is one of them.

Denny Hamlin added.

Denny Hamlin shared his thoughts on Ryan Blaney clash that ruined his momentum

One of the significant moments in the race was some late race aggressive moves for P2 involving Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin. It ruined the momentum for both the drivers and gave Chase Elliott an advantage. Talking about the incident, the Ford driver called out his Toyota counterpart for the aggressive incident which he thought was unnecessary.

Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin
Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin (Via @DAYTONA/X and IMAGO)

From my seat, I feel like it’s (contact is) unnecessary. I don’t feel like I kind of got pinched. I feel like I just got driven into the fence. But I think everyone’s gonna have differing opinions on it. Obviously, in my seat seemed like it was overkill, but I don’t know. I’m sure he doesn’t think the same.

Ryan Blaney said.

The No:11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver responded to the comments from the No:12 Mustang driver on his post-race interview. He told the pit-reporter that Blaney was right to make the comments about his aggressive moves.

Yeah, I wouldn’t disagree.

Denny Hamlin admitted.

The veteran racers understand things went sideways during the race for positions and its part of racing at Martinsville. It would be interesting to see if how the dynamic between the duo is going to playout in the coming days.

Also Read: Kyle Petty Blasts Bubba Wallace for Wrecking “Easy Target” Carson Hocevar at Martinsville