Denny Hamlin has responded to accusations regarding the Denny Hamlin Bristol incident after Chase Elliott was eliminated from the playoff race at Bristol on Lap 301. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver maintains that he was not at fault for the crash, which forced Elliott to leave the race early and mark his second DNF of the season.
Some NASCAR fans pointed fingers at Hamlin for Elliott’s misfortune, but Hamlin has firmly countered those claims, detailing the sequence involving John Hunter Nemechek and Chase Elliott. According to Hamlin, Nemechek’s contact with Elliott caused a chain reaction, leaving Hamlin unable to avoid colliding with the Hendrick Motorsports driver.
Hamlin’s Account of the Multi-Car Crash
The aftermath of the Bristol playoff race saw heated debate and speculation about who caused the crash that ended Chase Elliott’s run. Denny Hamlin was quick to clarify that John Hunter Nemechek initiated the contact, not him, explaining that he could not avoid Elliott once the chain reaction began.
“I don’t know what they’re talking about. I was the second guy in contact.”
— Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing
Providing further insight, Hamlin described the sequence as Elliott slowing down to enter a gap below, only to be hit by Nemechek, and then stopping in front of Hamlin with no time for Hamlin to react.
“What it looked like happened is the 9 tried to get in a hole, and he was running significantly slower than the cars running the bottom,”
Hamlin further explained.
“John Hunter didn’t see it coming or didn’t check up in time…he hit him and when he hit him he stopped in front of me, so I then hit him.”
— Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing
Despite the incident, Elliott remains mathematically alive in the playoff picture. He sits in seventh place with 3013 points, five points ahead of the cutoff line. Hamlin, meanwhile, emerges from Bristol as the series points leader and currently holds a 21-point advantage over Elliott.
Consequences for Elliott and Implications for the Playoff Race
The Bristol incident further tightened the playoff battle, increasing pressure on Chase Elliott as the NASCAR postseason continues. Elliott’s poor finish at Bristol adds another hurdle to his campaign, as he now faces a critical stretch before the next elimination round. The emotional toll was evident as Elliott left his car, uncertain about his playoff future and relying on the misfortune of others to secure his last-chance hopes.
“I need to understand where everybody’s at,”
Chase Elliott said after exiting his car.
“You know, I’m sure people have to pit and those numbers can certainly change, but cross our fingers and hope we get lucky. But it sucks.”
— Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports
With Bristol behind them, the playoff picture heads to the Mobil 1 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Elliott has yet to win at the track in 11 starts, though he has finished in the top five twice, including one runner-up result, and recorded a single top-10 finish there.
The Stakes for Elliott and Fellow Hendrick Teammates
While Elliott was sidelined at Bristol, his Hendrick Motorsports peers—Kyle Larson, William Byron, and Alex Bowman—remained in the hunt for the win. For Elliott, another layer of pressure emerged: the prospect of Bowman, who sits below the cutoff line, capturing a victory and potentially shifting the playoff calculus. If Bowman had triumphed, it might have made Elliott’s fight for survival even more precarious, since Larson and Byron were already comfortably above the line.
With only days to prepare for the upcoming challenge at New Hampshire, Elliott confronts two options to continue his championship pursuit: he must avoid elimination in the next three events or secure a race win to automatically advance to the Round of 8. For now, the fallout from the Denny Hamlin Bristol incident remains a tense focal point, influencing the drivers’ strategies, emotions, and hopes as the playoff pressure intensifies.
As the series moves forward, all eyes turn to New Hampshire, where Elliott, Hamlin, and the rest of the NASCAR Cup Series drivers will look to shape the next chapter in this tightly contested playoff season.
