For the second time in three years, Chase Elliott is a winner in the NASCAR Cup Series at the Texas Motor Speedway.
The driver of the No. 9 had to do it the hard way as a late-race caution forced a restart with just four laps remaining.
With Denny Hamlin occupying the outside line, Elliott muscled his way by for the lead on the restart and fended off Hamlin to secure the win in Sunday’s Würth 400 at Texas. It was Elliott’s second win of 2026, second at Texas, and 23rd career win overall.
Hamlin finished second, followed by Alex Bowman in third, Tyler Reddick in fourth, and Chris Buescher rounded out the top five.
Chase Elliott on Texas win: “We’ll try to build on it”
As the field got set for what would be the last restart of the race, Elliott felt he needed to be on the bottom lane.
With help from Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman behind, the 2020 Cup champion was able to clear Hamlin and pull away for the victory.
“Fortunately, Alex gave me a great push, was able to execute turns one and two, get clear, and then just kinda manage the last few laps. It worked out really good,” Elliott said.
Elliott conceded he is not the biggest fan of Texas Motor Speedway, but you might not have been able to tell based on his recent success at the 1.5-mile track.
With two victories at the track in the last three years, Elliott said it is a testament to the hard work the No. 9 team puts in, despite some early-season struggles.
“I’ve not been a huge fan of this place and I’ve made that very obvious, but to continue to work hard, I really think this is a testament to the whole 9 team. Not just the 9 team, but also everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. We’ve not been where we’ve wanted to be throughout portions of the season,” Elliott said.
Elliott is the second driver to have multiple Cup wins in 2026, with Reddick being the other, who has a series-high five victories.
With plenty of season left, Elliott said he is hopeful to build off the Texas triumph.
“It’s a testament to our team. We have a great group and those things don’t last forever. I think for us, we just have to make the most of a great opportunity. We have a great race team, great people back at home, great support from the boss and people that keep this deal rolling. We’re just going to keep our heads down. Long year. Lot of racing left, so we’ll try to build on it,” Elliott said.
Top NASCAR drivers have problems in Texas
Christopher Bell’s string of bad luck in the NASCAR Cup Series continued in Texas.
While leading the race in stage one, the driver of the No. 20 could not avoid a spinning Todd Gilliland coming out of turn four. Gilliland’s No. 38 car clipped Bell, sending the latter crashing into the outside wall.
The damage was too much for Bell to continue, resulting in a last-place finish.
In a bizarre twist on pit road during stage two, Joey Logano slammed into the back of Cole Custer as the latter was attempting to pull into his pit stall. The collision demolished the left front of the No. 22 car, sending him to the garage and out of the race.
Ty Gibbs crashed out of the race in stage two after contact from Ryan Preece in turn three. The driver of the No. 54 posted a 35th-place finish due to the accident.
Towards the end of the second stage, Kyle Larson slapped the wall coming out of turn two. Although he finished the race, the crash resulted in a 33rd-place finish for Larson.
In total, there were seven caution flags for 40 laps.
Stage winners and points standings update
One week removed from his first career NASCAR Cup Series win at Talladega, Carson Hocevar led the field to the green flag on Sunday at Texas after qualifying on the pole the day prior.
Yet, it was Erik Jones who cycled to the front on a pit strategy call and scored the win in stage one. It was the driver of the No. 43’s first career Cup Series stage victory. Hocevar was second and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was third.
Elliott went on to win stage two, followed by Reddick in second and Brad Keselowski in third.
After 11 races, Reddick continues to hold a sizable points lead with a 109-point advantage over Hamlin, who sits in second. Elliott moves up to third (-117), followed by Ryan Blaney in fourth (-155), and Chris Buescher in fifth (-181).
Chase Elliott Captures NASCAR Cup Series Win at Texas Motor Speedway