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Denny Hamlin recently explained why he's considering Chase Elliott as a real contender for this year's NASCAR Cup Series championship. Hamlin, who was contending for a win at Texas before he spun out, shared his take on Elliott's recent victory and what it could mean for the #9 driver.
Speaking on his podcast show Actions Detrimental, Hamlin pointed to the way Elliott went about getting his first win in almost a year and a half.
"He didn't do it on strategy or fuel mileage or anything like that. He made a move. He passed me and the #45 on the restart, went three-wide bottom, cleared us, took the lead. Now I took the lead back from him because I thought generally our car was just a little bit better but then he got us on a restart. And then he held those guys off for a win. So it's a legitimate race win," Hamlin said.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver suggested that winning in this fashion can do wonders for a driver's self-confidence.
"Now he's like, 'Okay, this is how aggressive I have to be, this is what I need out of my car for it to be fast.' You start to understand those things and next thing you know these wins just start reeling off," Hamlin added. "So absolutely I would consider them a championship threat."
So far this season, Chase Elliott has only improved his results from last year. His last three finishes have been fifth, third, and first.
Chase Elliott finally has a result to show for his performances
During his post-race press conference, Chase Elliott was reminded by a reporter of his comments from Martinsville, where he suggested that he was close to winning. Elliott was then asked whether he felt that momentum was building for him heading into Texas where he finally won a race.
Elliott pointed to the fact that over the last few weeks, they were running better as a team. The Hendrick driver even went on to claim that from a competitive standpoint, he's been better than his rivals. It's just they haven't always had great finishes.
"But relative to the guys that have won a lot of these things over the last year or so, I felt like we’ve been closer to them. I still think we have a lot of work to do, for sure. A lot of things went our way today. I’m not naïve to that, for sure as well," he added.
Elliott insisted that one has to be in the mix, be upfront, and have a bit of luck in things going your way. In Texas, all of those things happened to him. But going forward, he insists that he only wants to get better.
