MARTINSVILLE, Va.: For months Chase Elliott has told his detractors to chill out.
No, he didn’t make the Playoffs last year. No, he didn’t win. Elliott hasn’t won in 42 starts.
But for the first time since last June, Elliott scored consecutive top-five finishes with a fifth-place result last weekend at Richmond Raceway and a season-best third in the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday.
Is it time to break out the rally caps?
“We’ll see as the weeks continue to click off where we go from here,” Elliott said.”But I feel like it’s been better and certainly having a shot to win a race there in the last restart, it’s a positive for us.
“So we’ll just keep working hard at. It. Keep scratching, keep scratching and clawing and hopefully have one go our way.”
Elliott’s qualifying has helped the team considerably this season. He started third on Sunday and held his position until the end of Stage 1 on Lap 81. With a two-tire stop, Joey Logano took the lead to start the second stage. Elliott ran into the No. 47 on pit road and sent Ricky Stenhouse Jr., spinning.
Elliott was afraid his car might be damaged following the incident but crew chief Alan Gustafson did his best to reassure his driver.
“I hit him pretty hard,” Elliott said. “Obviously, I didn’t mean to hit him. That pit road deal is just chaos in those situations and. Tried to stop and, you know. Fortunately I think I just got him on a part of the bumper that was really strong and it didn’t. It didn’t hurt anything. So that was good.
Elliott restarted fourth and remained there until the end of Stage 2 on Lap 181. Following a stout pit stop, Elliott lined up second next to his former nemesis Denny Hamlin for the Lap 193 restart. Once the green flag waved, the driver of the No. 9 UniFirst Ruby Chevrolet roared past Hamlin to take the lead. Instantly, the crowd rose to their feet and cheered for NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver.
Fans of the second-generation driver enjoyed a 59-lap show with Elliott at the point. The driver’s progress was interrupted momentarily after Christopher Bell cut a tire and spun in Turn 4 on Lap 203. But Elliott retained the lead on the Lap 210 restart and extended his advantage to 2.2 seconds over Hamlin over the next 20 laps.
As Elliott’s tires faded on Lap 250, a seven-lap side-by-side battle ensued as Hamlin caught the No. 9 car. Hamlin grabbed the lead on Lap 253 but Elliott regained the point on the next circuit. Despite a valiant effort by Elliott to stay out front, Hamlin finally gained control on Lap 258.
Elliott pitted with just over 100 laps remaining in the contest. When the field cycled out following the final round of pit stops, the No. 9 car ran second behind teammate William Byron. Elliott led momentarily when the race went into overtime on Lap 413. His 64 laps led on Sunday were the most for Elliott since the 2023 fall race at Martinsville.
But as the Hendrick Motorsports drivers joined forces to hold off Ryan Blaney, Byron extended his lead, Kyle Larson moved into second and Elliott finished third for a Hendrick sweep of the podium as NASCAR’s winningest organization celebrated the 40th anniversary of the company’s first win by Geoff Bodine at Martinsville in 1984.
Elliott claims he couldn’t hear the clamor of the crowd’s approval but insists the opportunity to run up front “was fun”—particularly on a day as significant to HMS as this one was.
“Just fun to kind of be up in the mix and have a have a shot at it,” said Elliott. “It’s been a while since we’ve had a shot at one, so that was fun.”
“Happy somebody got it done for HMS,” Elliott said. “Really cool weekend hosting our shop here and all the folks that really make this deal go. So glad one of us could get it. Obviously, wish we could have got across (the finish line) first, but it was a solid weekend for us and certainly nothing to be too too disappointed about.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
