Chase Elliott Gets Fans’ Attention With Smart Reply to Denny Hamlin Post

On Tuesday, a report revealed that the No. 9 driver is currently second behind Kyle Busch in a popularity contest calculating the combined followers on the three most-used social media platforms by Cup drivers: X, Instagram, and Facebook. The two-time champion has accumulated a total of 2,018,300 followers compared to the 29-year-old and his 1,924,600 followers.

A day later, the HMS pilot unexpectedly showed some of his personality when responding to a post by Denny Hamlin on X. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver started by jokingly sharing his Spotify Wrapped results with his mock top songs and artists.

One of Hamlin’s top songs was “Zero Championships” by HMS Fans, and it included a SpongeBob SquarePants meme wearing the hat of one of Elliott’s primary sponsors, NAPA.

Elliott offered a short reply.

“Hats for sale, by the way,” Elliott wrote. He then included a link to his online store.

Unsurprisingly, fans of the No. 9 couldn’t help but respond.

“And y’all say he has NO personality even though this is definitely PR. BUT STILL!!!” wrote one fan.

“Excellent marketing here,” another said.

Whether or not it was Elliott or his PR team, no one knows for sure. But, as the one fan wrote, it was marketing savvy to take advantage of the softball served up by Hamlin and hit it out of the park.