Chase Elliott dominated the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, a pre-season exhibition race, leading 171 out of 200 laps on Sunday night in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Driving for Hendrick Motorsports, Elliott briefly lost the lead to Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota during the first half of the race. However, he reclaimed control in the latter part, holding off Ryan Blaney by 1.3 seconds on the 1/4-mile track to secure his first Clash victory. This win marked Elliott’s best performance in the Clash, previously finishing second at the Daytona International Speedway road course in 2021. He is now the 26th driver to win this non-points race.

Hamlin, Joey Logano, and Bubba Wallace finished in the top five behind Elliott.

Though Elliott earned the pole position for the race, he had to endure a competitive last-chance qualifier that included drivers Kyle Larson and Josh Berry, while Blaney secured a spot in the 23-car lineup.

During the 47th iteration of the Clash, which took place at the small venue nicknamed “The Madhouse,” Elliott quickly built a lead of over a second in the early stages until a caution was issued for a multi-car wreck involving Kyle Busch.

Elliott skillfully evaded trouble when fellow Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron hit the outside wall while being lapped.

Hamlin made a significant attempt to overtake Elliott during the Lap 80 restart, getting close but unable to pass. He eventually succeeded on Lap 97, sliding his Toyota beneath Elliott to take the lead.

At the halfway mark, NASCAR called the second caution for a scheduled break, with Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Elliott, Chris Buescher, and Brad Keselowski as the top five drivers at that point.

Meanwhile, Blaney, who started in 23rd place, made an impressive comeback to reach 10th in his No. 12 Ford.

In the following 20 laps, several spins involved Larson, Keselowski, Carson Hocevar, William Byron, and others, but Elliott regained the lead on Lap 127 by passing Hamlin and continued on to victory.

Cook Out Clash results

Here is the finishing order from Sunday’s race, alongside the starting positions:

1. (1) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet
2. (23) Ryan Blaney, Ford
3. (3) Denny Hamlin, Toyota
4. (7) Joey Logano, Ford
5. (14) Bubba Wallace, Toyota
6. (17) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet
7. (16) Austin Cindric, Ford
8. (4) Tyler Reddick, Toyota
9. (10) Shane Van Gisbergen, Chevrolet
10. (2) Chris Buescher, Ford
11. (12) Ryan Preece, Ford
12. (8) Christopher Bell, Toyota
13. (22) Josh Berry, Ford
14. (20) Todd Gilliland, Ford
15. (13) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet
16. (15) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet
17. (21) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet
18. (11) William Byron, Chevrolet
19. (19) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet
20. (9) Noah Gragson, Ford
21. (5) Brad Keselowski, Ford
22. (18) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet
23. (6) Chase Briscoe, Toyota