Chase Elliott explains how he won 2025 Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium

After leading 171 laps, there wasn’t much else that Chase Elliott could have done on Sunday night in the NASCAR Clash at Bowman Gray. So, how did he do it? It definitely didn’t hurt that the Most Popular Driver had the fastest car of the weekend.

Chase Elliott needed a dominant win. We hadn’t seen this side of him on the track in quite some time. He was fastest in qualifying, won his Heat Race, and then went out and led 171 of 200 laps from the pole. That’s more or less a perfect weekend.

In his postrace media availability, Elliott talked about his win. After all, it isn’t every day you see a car look as clean as the No. 9 at the end of a race at the Madhouse.

“Yeah, that’s a great question,” Elliott said, smiling. “Honestly, felt like there at the end of the first hundred [laps] that Denny [Hamlin] and Tyler [Reddick] had gotten better than us, and we needed to be a good bit improved to track those guys back down. Was kind of afraid if we lost control, it was going to be hard to get it back.

“Alan [Gustafson] made some good adjustments there at the break. We were able to get back to 2nd. I felt like I needed to take my shot and try to get the lead. If it worked out, great. If Denny got me back, then so be it.

“I just felt like my best chance to win was to try to get control of the race in that moment,” Chase Elliott continued. “Took that opportunity and was fortunate enough to kind of have the race play out in our favor. Certainly, Ryan kept us honest there at the end, too.”

Chase Elliott is likely to pass 20 career Cup Series wins this season. He is at 19 currently. In the last few years, William Byron has started to gain ground on Elliott with multi-win seasons each of the last three years.

Of course, Kyle Larson just came off a six-win season in 2024. He will likely cross the 30-win mark as he sits with 29 in his career. Also, Alex Bowman is two wins away from double digits.

While the last couple of years at Hendrick have been about Larson and Byron, 2025 is the year for Chase Elliott to remind folks. He isn’t just the Most Popular Driver. He’s a Cup champion and a damn talented race car driver.