Chase Elliott holds off Ryan Blaney, dominates Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium

About as dominant of a win as you can hope for from Chase Elliott tonight as he won his first-ever Clash. He led the most laps in Clash history. Then he gave the fans one of the best burnouts you will see all NASCAR season.

Ryan Blaney did his best to track Chase Elliott down after starting in the back on a provisional. He just didn’t have enough tire to get the job done.

Besides a couple dozen or so laps that Denny Hamlin led, tonight was all about Elliott. The No. 9 team had that Chevy hooked up.

Chase Elliott wins the Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium! pic.twitter.com/YiuobQMCsB

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 3, 2025

The only other driver to lead laps was Denny Hamlin. Other than that, pure domination from Chase Elliott. He was fantastic from start to finish. Let’s be honest, he was the best of the week. The fastest time in practice/qualifying, won his Heat Race from the pole, and then won the Clash from the pole.

You know that Elliott fans are celebrating tonight. This is the first Clash win for Elliott in his career, that’s a big deal. It might also signal to them that Elliott and his crew chief Alan Gustafson have found the speed they were missing in 2024.

Blaney had the second-best performance of the night, if not the best. Not only did he work his way up from the provisional spot, he didn’t have a scratch on his car compared to the rest of the field. Besides Elliott, that is. His tires just didn’t have enough in the end.

Hamlin, Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Tyler Reddick, Shane van Gisbergen, and Chris Buescher rounded out the rest of the top-10. Logano was coming on strong late, in a 250-lap race, he may have challenged for the win.

Chase Elliott gets a big win to start 2025

Bowman Gray Stadium was a fantastic host for the Clash. While the LA Coliseum experiment was fun, it is clear – nothing beats a race track that was built to be a permanent race track. Unless you’re going to a major destination overseas, go to a local short track.

The Madhouse put on a show. There is a reason why that place has the stands packed all year long during the race season. No matter what you put on that asphalt, the product you get is physical, exciting, and very entertaining.

While Elliott dominated the race, I liked it overall. It was a good race. Elliott just happened to have the best car this weekend and starting on the pole, he was too good for other drivers to beat tonight. We did see him lose the lead at one point, but his halftime adjustments were perfect.

The 2025 NASCAR season starts with Chase Elliott winning at Bowman Gray. A big win for Hendrick and Elliott. Is this the season Elliott gets back to winning multiple races? He’s off to a good start so far.