Denny Hamlin debates whether Chase Elliott is a championship contender after Texas win

“He didn’t do it on strategy or fuel mileage or anything like that,” Hamlin said. “He made a move. Passed me and the 45 [Tyler Reddick] on a 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 better, but then he got us on a restart and then he held those guys off for the win.

“So, that’s a legitimate race win. And what that does for a driver’s confidence is — I can’t tell you how much it helps. Because now he’s like, ‘OK, 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 all those things and next thing you know, these wins start just reeling off. And so, absolutely I would consider them a championship threat.”

Elliott, the 2020 Cup Series champion and NASCAR’s most popular driver, entered Sunday’s race carrying a 42-race winless streak. That’s no more, as he regained the lead back from Hamlin during a restart in the closing laps and held on during two overtime restarts.

Chase Elliott reflects on big win at Texas: ‘I’m truthfully most proud of the journey’

Elliott openly talked about the journey he and his team have been on and how it culminated with a victory lane celebration at Texas.

“I think just our performance over the last month or maybe two has done more than anything,” Elliott said in the post-race press conference. “I mean, I think obviously these races are hard to win. They seem like they get harder, at least for me. They continuously get harder over time. One, I’ve just been really proud of our group for sticking together ’cause I’m sure a lot of you guys have been around the sport long enough to understand and know that when you have a couple bad years, a period of time that things aren’t going well, it is so easy to jump ship and to start bailing out on one another.

“I think that the win’s great, all that stuff is fantastic, but I’m truthfully most proud of the journey and the group of people that we have climbed back up together with. We’ve made each other better. They push me to be a better driver and a better person. I just feel like we’re all in a really good place, and we have been. It’s nice to see all the hard work pay off. Those guys really deserve to win. They’ve been busting it for a while, have been doing a really good job. That’s what I’m most proud of, is the journey and all of us sticking together at the 9 team.”