Four laps! Yes, that was all it took for Chase Elliott to win another big race at Texas Motor Speedway after a stressful restart. Elliott secured his second win of the season by clearing Denny Hamlin with a timely push from teammate Alex Bowman and never turning around. But instead of pounding his chest after beating one of the sport’s best, Elliott took a different route. And his remarks reveal a lot about his perspective on the rivalry.

Chase Elliott keeps perspective after beating Denny Hamlin

“Obviously, he has won a hell lot more than I have. But lot of the races that I’ve been, had the opportunities to win or whatever, it seems like he and I are racing for wins a lot. So, I think there is a lot of mutual respect there. He shows me respect, I show him respect, and we can go out there and really race hard.”

Chase Elliott summed up his continuous struggles with Denny Hamlin in this way. And the figures support that. With the victory in Texas, Elliott now has two head-to-head victories against Hamlin this season, both of which ended in a 1-2, including their previous clash at Martinsville Speedway.

On paper, a record like that might quickly spark discussions about a NASCAR leadership change. But Chase Elliott disputes that account. And that’s mostly due to what Hamlin stands for. Hamlin’s 61 career victories, which rank him among the top 10 drivers in NASCAR history, still dwarf Elliott’s current record of just 23 victories.

The two drivers have a history of getting into each other’s way. In 2017, Hamlin wrecked Elliott from the lead with 3 laps to go, and what followed was a post-race face-off. The boiling point came at the 2023 Charlotte race, where the HMS driver right-hooked the JGR driver, and he was suspended by NASCAR for doing that. Since then, the two have remained in check, and while they race hard with each other, they’ve toned down their aggression.

Elliott does not immediately reverse that hierarchy after defeating Hamlin in a few races. If anything, it highlights the amount of work that still has to be done. His approach to these situations is shaped by that viewpoint. According to Chase Elliott, it’s more like a competition between two drivers who are often fighting for the wins rather than just the dominance aspect. It’s about continuously placing himself in a position, not about demonstrating supremacy.

And that’s where the real takeaway lies. Even though Elliott has been winning the previous battles, he believes that nothing has changed in the grand scheme of things. The respect is still there. And so does the drive to continue pursuing greater goals.

Larson’s Texas troubles temper HMS high

While Chase Elliott was celebrating up front, it was a very different story on the other side of the Hendrick Motorsports garage. At Texas Motor Speedway, defending champion Kyle Larson had yet another poor showing that unraveled in the middle of the race.

Larson lost control of his No. 5 Chevrolet as it was exiting Turn 2 on Lap 160, well inside the top 20, and crashed into the outside wall. His day wasn’t immediately ended by the collision, but his car was severely damaged and became challenging to drive. He ultimately made his way to the garage for more extensive repairs after limping back to pit road due to steering problems.

Additionally, that wasn’t the first indication of problems. When Larson made contact with Chase Briscoe on the pit road earlier in the race, his pit stop sequence had already gone sideways. Even though it was a minor incident, it portended a tumultuous afternoon.

Larson managed to salvage a 34th-place finish and even secure a place in the last laps thanks to his tardy return to the track. But the damage was already done. It was his second race in a row that had been impacted by a crash after finishing last at Talladega the previous week. The bigger concern here is momentum.

Larson fell farther down the standings after Texas and is currently eighth in points. For a driver accustomed to controlling the narrative, this is a significant decline. Larson’s difficulties served as a reminder of how rapidly things can turn around, even while Chase Elliott’s victory demonstrated Hendrick’s potential.