“I just think we might need a little bit (balance).” Chase Elliott said these words after qualifying in second place, shortly before the Cook Out 400. However, the balance tipped over in favor of 5th-place starter Denny Hamlin. The two have a checkered history – from exchanging blows in Martinsville in 2017 to Elliott landing a penalty in Charlotte for wrecking Hamlin in 2023. Maybe that flaming rivalry pushed Elliott out of a miserable streak, but it was not enough.

After the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports car won the Cook Out Clash race in early February, it lost its sparkle. Chase Elliott picked up one top-five in COTA and four top-tens – hardly the standard for the Hendrick Motorsports star. Elliott seems to be back in his groove in Martinsville – but he is not so content.

Chase Elliott bows his head to nemesis

It may seem like only yesterday that Chase Elliott aimed at Denny Hamlin. Elliott delivered a dangerous hook to Hamlin’s car in the rain-rescheduled race of the 2023 Coca-Cola 600. However, the recently concluded 2025 Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway witnessed a clean racing bout between the two. They started their healthy fight early on. Elliott exchanged barbs with Christopher Bell initially, passing him 25 laps in. Then Hamlin edged up close behind him soon after the first stage. Then, as soon as Burt Myers brought out the fourth caution, Hamlin got his chance and seized the lead. He stayed out while the rest of the racing field pitted.

That yielding of the race control proved to be final, as Chase Elliott admitted. The HMS star said that his old rival put up an extraordinary performance. Denny Hamlin proved that his worthy of his home track for the 6th time, leading for 274 laps to take home the checkered flag.

Chase Elliott’s team tried their level best. They dodged several dicey situations like a three-wide run with Joey Logano and others, cooling suit failures, or the wrecks typical to short-track racing. Elliott had turned in a second-best lap of 19.735 seconds in qualifying and brought the same momentum to the race. Until lap 341, Chase Elliott hounded the No. 11 Toyota’s back bumper. But after that, two more Toyotas toppled the No. 9 Chevrolet – Christopher Bell and Bubba Wallace’s. Finally, Elliott finished 4th. So the HMS star admitted: “Yeah, came up short, didn’t get the job done. Will try again next week.” Despite a bitter-tasting result, Elliott didn’t shy away from praising his rival’s drive.

Hamlin notched up his 55th career win, tying himself 11th on the all-time win list with Rusty Wallace as he secured playoff qualification. Elliott said: “I thought he was really good, you know, on the long run. When you have control like that, it makes a big difference. How you can control your run, and having that clean air and having that one guy – just one guy in front of you – makes a huge difference.” Hamlin ended the race with a 4-second gap to second place Christopher Bell, stamping his foot down as the most dominant driver on the day.

Chase Elliott tipped his hat in respect for Denny Hamlin, an old foe he had faced several times in the past. However, he was not the only HMS driver to hail Hamlin.

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Another rival’s show of respect

Denny Hamlin has ticked off not one but two of Rick Hendrick’s star group in the past. Besides Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson has also locked horns with the JGR driver. For instance, during the 2023 race at Pocono Raceway, Hamlin made contact with the No. 5 Chevrolet during the final laps. That caused Larson to slam against the outer wall while the Toyota driver went on to win the race. This incident was rumored to have caused some damage to their otherwise fuzzy friendship. Multiple times later, the two faced off again on the racetrack, like when their cars made contact in the 2024 New Hampshire race. However, the 2025 Cook Out race saw Larson forgetting all those bitter encounters.

The HMS ‘golden boy’ was a quiet factor throughout the Martinsville Speedway race. He lingered inside the top ten, stayed out of trouble, and washed up in fifth place in the end. Post-race, Larson hailed old rival Denny Hamlin’s short-track racing skills while putting himself and his teammate in the same boat. “The No. 11 [Denny Hamlin], I’m sure his car is equal, as well, but he’s just a really good short-track racer. He can keep the tires on it and get through track position really well. It’s so hard to pass here. I don’t know if I would have looked as good as Denny, but I feel like I was equal to my teammate, the No. 9. He looked strong, and I feel like we would have been, too.”

Evidently, the HMS fold gave a tough fight to the now 6-time Martinsville race winner. Chase Elliott may be looking forward to more fruitful fights ahead, and would hope he is the one who comes out on top very soon.