Chase Elliott notches second Cup victory at Texas

Chase Elliott outdueled Denny Hamlin for a second time this season, with his latest occurrence being in the Würth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 3.

The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion from Dawsonville, Georgia, led four times for a race-high 87 of 267 scheduled laps, after qualifying in 14th place. He then methodically navigated his way into the top-10 mark on the track and settled in eighth place when the first stage period concluded. Throughout the second stage period, Elliott navigated his way to the front as he assumed the lead for the first time on Lap 152. Despite making a pit stop with a majority of the field and prior to a one-lap shootout to conclude the second stage period, he quickly bolted from third to first and claimed the stage victory.

After dominating the early portions of the final stage period, Elliott strategically made his final pit stop under green flag conditions with 52 laps remaining. Then, with 29 laps remaining, he retook the top spot from Corey Heim. Following a late-race caution that flew with 11 laps remaining when Heim wrecked, Elliott was among eight competitors who remained on the track. In a four-lap shootout, he fended off Hamlin at the shootout’s start and motored away for his second Cup victory of the 2026 season.

On-track qualifying determined the starting lineup on Saturday, May 2. Carson Hocevar, winner of last weekend’s event at Talladega Superspeedway, scored his second consecutive Cup pole position at Texas with a pole-winning lap at 191.340 mph in 28.222 seconds. Hocevar shared the front row with teammate Daniel Suarez, who posted the second-fastest qualifying lap at 191.320 mph in 28.225 seconds.

Before the event, Bubba Wallace and Austin Dillon were the only two competitors who started at the rear of the field. Wallace competed in a backup car after he wrecked his primary car during Saturday’s practice session. Dillon had an engine change made after he encountered engine issues during practice.

When the green flag waved and the event commenced, teammates Carson Hocevar and Daniel Suarez dueled in front of two-stacked lanes through the frontstretch. This continued through the first two turns and the backstretch. Then, entering Turn 3, Hocevar muscled his No. 77 Spectrum Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry ahead of Suarez, motoring back to the frontstretch to lead the first lap.

Over the next four laps, Hocevar stretched his early advantage to as high as seven-tenths of a second over Suarez. Behind, Chase Briscoe, who trailed by more than a second, was racing in third place. Teammate Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch followed in fourth and fifth place. Chris Buescher, who qualified in third place, dropped to sixth place. Christopher Bell, Ty Gibbs, Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman occupied the remaining top-10 spots. Meanwhile,, Hocevar grew his advantage to nearly two seconds over Suarez by the 10th lap.

On Lap 19, Hamlin overtook teammate Briscoe entering the frontstretch after Briscoe briefly lost momentum. This happened as Hocevar cut across the path of Briscoe in a bid for the lead, and overtook Hocevar through the backstretch to assume the lead. Briscoe then overtook Hocevar for the runner-up spot during the next lap as Hamlin continued to lead. Behind, Kyle Busch and Buescher trailed in the top five. Bell, Ty Gibbs, Reddick and Bowman followed while Suarez drifted back to 10th place. He was ahead of Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Austin Cindric and rookie Connor Zilisch. As Suarez slowly continued to drift out of the top-10 mark, Hocevar was being pressured by Busch and Buescher for third place. Hamlin stretched his lead to more than a second over teammate Briscoe by Lap 25.

On Lap 33, Bell strategically pitted his No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry XSE entry from the top-10 mark. Bell’s pit service ignited a first wave of green flag pit stops over the next two laps. Hamlin then pitted his No. 11 Progressive Toyota Camry XSE entry from the lead on Lap 36. But by the time he completed his pit service and exited pit road, Briscoe managed to overtake Hamlin on the track. This was due to Hamlin stalling his entry during the completion of his service. Hocevar, who was one of 10 competitors who had not yet pit, led before he pitted on Lap 41. Josh Berry, Brad Keselowski and Cole Custer had not yet pit. Once Keselowski pitted from the lead on Lap 42, Briscoe cycled as the leader over a hard-charging Hamlin.

On Lap 46, Bell navigated past teammates Hamlin and Briscoe to assume the lead. Bell proceeded to lead Briscoe by half a second through the Lap 50 mark. Third-place Hamlin trailed by eight-tenths of a second. Busch, Buescher, Hocevar, Gibbs, Elliott, Bowman and Reddick trailed in the top 10. Byron, Larson, Cindric, Ryan Blaney, Ryan Preece, Zilisch, Erik Jones, Suarez, Joey Logano and Corey Heim occupied the top-20 spots over Ross Chastain, Bubba Wallace, Zane Smith, Berry and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., respectively.

Through the Lap 60 mark, Bell maintained the lead by three-tenths of a second over runner-up Hamlin. He was nine-tenths of a second over Briscoe while fourth-place Kyle Busch remained within sight by more than a second. Four laps later, Buescher overtook Busch for fourth place. Bell, who was mired in lapped traffic, retained the lead through every turn and straightaway over Hamlin. Hamlin then dueled with Bell through the frontstretch on Lap 67 as the former tried to use the inside lane through the first two turns and the backstretch to assume the lead. Bell, though, fought back through Turns 3 and 4 from the outside lane.

Then on Lap 67, the event’s first caution flew. This happened as Todd Gilliland got loose through Turns 3 and 4, and spun towards the outside lane while dodging the outside wall. As Gilliland spun down the track while the leaders approached the latter, Gilliland barely clipped the leader, Bell. This sent Bell spinning, entering the frontstretch before he hit the outside wall on the right side.

During the event’s first caution period, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Hamlin returned to pit road for service. Erik Jones, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ross Chastain, AJ Allmendinger and John Hunter Nemechek remained on the track. Following the pit stops with mixed pit strategies ensuing, Hocevar exited pit road first. He was followed by Ryan Preece, Hamlin, Briscoe, Busch, Ty Gibbs, Chase Elliott, Buescher, Bowman and Larson.

The event restarted with six laps remaining in the first stage period. The field fanned out as wide as four lanes through the first two turns as Jones and Stenhouse dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. Jones then managed to motor ahead of Stenhouse through Turns 3 and 4 and he led the next lap. The field behind bumped, jostled and scattered for spots. As Jones maintained a steady lead, Briscoe was mired in seventh place while Hamlin was struggling to remain inside of the top-10 mark.

When the first stage period concluded on Lap 80, Erik Jones captured his first Cup career stage victory. Hocevar muscled his way into second place over Stenhouse, Gibbs and Briscoe while Busch, Allmendinger, Elliott, Byron and Hamlin were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, 35 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap while Bell was officially ruled out of the event following his incident with Gilliland.

Under the event’s first stage break period, some led by Jones and including Stenhouse, AJ Allmendinger, Chastain, Preece, Suarez, John Hunter Nemechek, Connor Zilisch, Noah Gragson, Austin Dillon, Cole Custer, Gilliland, Kyle Larson, Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Berry, Riley Herbst and Ty Dillon pitted while the rest led by Hocevar remained on the track.

The second stage period started on Lap 88 as Hocevar and Gibbs occupied the front row. At the start, the latter two dueled through the frontstretch, the first two turns and the backstretch. Then, as Hocevar threw a bold block on Briscoe entering Turn 3, Hocevar and Gibbs continued to duel for the lead. Gibbs used the outside lane to lead the next lap. He then continued to duel dead even with Hocevar for the lead in front of Briscoe for another lap. However, Hocevar muscled ahead through Turns 3 and 4. With Gibbs hitting the curb in Turn 3, Briscoe overtook Gibbs as Hocevar motored away to lead Lap 91.

On Lap 92, the caution returned. Byron, who was racing in the top-10 mark, got sideways through Turns 3 and 4 after he ran over the turns’ bumps. He then spun from the outside lane and back across the track and was barely dodged by an oncoming Joey Logano. As he slid towards the frontstretch’s grass. He managed to continue without sustaining any significant damage to the No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry.

During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Hocevar returned to pit road for service. The rest, led by Heim, remained on the track. Following the pit stops and amid mixed pit strategies, Elliott, Buescher, Michael McDowell, Busch, Cindric, Allmendinger, Reddick, Hamlin, Bubba Wallace and Chastain were the first 10 competitors to exit pit road.

Amid the pit stops, a trio of incidents occurred as the competitors scrambled to navigate through pit road. Briscoe, who pitted for only two tires, dropped to 22nd place. This was due to making contact with Larson while trying to exit his pit stall. Then ahead, Logano clipped the right-rear end of Custer as Custer stopped to avoid hitting Gibbs. This caused damage to Logano’s left-front fender and knocked Logano out of contention. Meanwhile, Hamlin got blocked by Zilisch while trying to exit his pit stall, which dropped him to 15th place.

The next restart on Lap 98 featured Heim and Zane Smith occupying the front row. Heim outdueled Smith to motor ahead with the lead. Heim led the next lap ahead of a stacked field. Keselowski navigated his way into the runner-up spot ahead of a battle between Smith and Suarez. The caution then returned on Lap 101.

Gibbs, who was racing within the top-20 mark, was bumped by Preece. He slipped up the track before hitting the outside wall in Turns 3 and 4.

As the event restarted on Lap 106, Heim used the inside lane to pass Keselowski and Suarez through the first two turns. While the field behind jostled for spots, Hocevar overtook Keselowski for second place while Heim led the next lap. Heim led Suarez by more than a second at the Lap 110 mark. Elliott, Keselowski and Stenhouse were racing in the top five ahead of Zane Smith, Buescher, Nemechek, Briscoe and Riley Herbst. Briscoe was recovering from his pit road incident with Larson while Hamlin was mired in 15th place.

At the Lap 120 mark, Heim extended his lead to two seconds over runner-up Elliott. He was more than three seconds over third-place Suarez. Keselowski, Stenhouse, Buescher, Nemechek, Smith, Briscoe and Reddick trailed in the top 10. They were ahead of Hamlin, Herbst, Busch, Wallace, Cindric, Hocevar, Bowman, Shane van Gisbergen, Erik Jones and Byron, respectively.

As the laps progressed, Briscoe drifted back to 21st place while Hamlin methodically carved his way up to fifth place. With the on-track competition at Texas Motor Speedway settling into a normal pace, Heim continued to lead by more than a second over Elliott at the event’s halfway mark between Laps 133 and 134.

By Lap 150, Heim, who was reeling in to lap Briscoe, retained the lead by more than three seconds over Elliott. Hamlin, Keselowski, Buescher, Suarez, Stenhouse, Reddick, Herbst and Nemechek were racing in the top 10, respectively. Two laps later, Heim, who had not pitted since Lap 70, reportedly did not have enough fuel to complete the second stage period. As a result, he surrendered the lead to pit under green.

Heim’s move allowed Elliott to cycle the No. 9 Amazon Prime Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry into the lead. He led Hamlin by more than three seconds. By then, Zane Smith, who was also low on fuel, had also pitted under green. Stenhouse, who was trying to stretch his fuel tank to the second stage’s distance, retained sixth place.

Then on Lap 159, the caution flew again. Larson was struggling with the steering of his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry. This resulted in him snapping sideways through the first two turns. He hit the outside wall on the left side while going backwards. During this caution period, most of the leaders led by Elliott and Hamlin pitted. The rest, led by Keselowski and Preece, remained on the track. Heim used his fresh tires to emerge as the first competitor a lap down when the latest caution flew. As a result, he was awarded the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap.

During a one-lap shootout to cap off the second stage period, Elliott went from third to first. He overtook Keselowski to capture his first Cup stage victory of the 2026 season. The second stage period concluded on Lap 165. Reddick settled in second ahead of Keselowski, Hamlin and Preece. Suarez, Buescher, Herbst, Hocevar and Bowman were scored in the top 10, respectively. By then, 30 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.

During the event’s second stage break period, a handful of competitors pitted. They were led by Keselowski and Preece, along with McDowell, Briscoe and Cody Ware. The rest, led by Elliott, remained on the track.

With 95 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Elliott and Reddick occupied the front row. At the start, the latter two dueled for the lead through the frontstretch, first two turns and the backstretch. Elliott used the inside lane to pull away from Reddick through Turns 3 and 4, leading the next lap. As Elliott led Reddick, Hamlin tracked down both in third place. Suarez, Buescher, Herbst, Hocevar, Bowman, Byron and Stenhouse were racing in the top 10. As various on-track battles ensued within the field, Elliott led by half a second over Reddick with 90 laps remaining.

Down to the final 75 laps of the event, Elliott maintained the lead by three-tenths of a second. He was followed by a hard-charging Reddick. Third-place Hamlin trailed by more than a second. Elliott increased his advantage to nine-tenths of a second during the next five laps and more than a second over the next 10 laps.

Then, with 57 laps remaining, a late cycle of green-flag pit stops commenced. Chastain and Byron pitted their respective Chevrolet entries. Bowman, Busch, Austin Dillon, Erik Jones and Cindric also pitted during the next lap. Chastain was nabbed for speeding on pit road. Zilisch, Preece, Zane Smith, Ty Dillon and Buescher all pitted during the following three laps. The leader, Elliott, and Reddick pitted with 52 laps remaining.

As the green flag pit stops continued, Hamlin led a single lap before he pitted a lap after Elliott and Reddick pitted. With both Elliott and Reddick cycling ahead of Hamlin, the top-seven competitors led by Hocevar remained on the track with 50 laps remaining. Hocevar continued to lead until he pitted with 45 laps remaining. This left the leader Blaney, Heim and Briscoe out as the lone trio of competitors who had yet to pit. Blaney then pitted from the lead and relinquished the top spot to Heim with 40 laps remaining. By then, Elliott trailed the lead by six seconds. Reddick and Hamlin also trailed the lead by seven and eight seconds, respectively.

Down to the final 30 laps, Heim, who was mired behind lapped traffic, continued to lead by over Elliott as the latter overtook Briscoe for the runner-up spot. Another lap later, Elliott overtook Heim for the lead as Heim, who was running low on fuel, pitted under green. With Elliott leading, Hamlin overtook Briscoe for the runner-up spot. He trailed Elliott by more than a second while Reddick, Buescher, Suarez, Bowman, Herbst, Hocevar and Busch were in the top 10, respectively.

With 20 laps remaining, Elliott maintained the lead by more than a second over Hamlin while third-place Reddick trailed by more than three seconds. Buescher and Suarez remained in the top five while Bowman, Herbst, Hocevar, Busch and Byron occupied the top-10 spots ahead of Austin Cindric, Wallace, Nemechek, Preece, Connor Zilisch, Shane van Gisbergen, Austin Dillon, Blaney, Erik Jones and Keselowski, all of whom were scored on the lead lap. Meanwhile, both Heim and Briscoe were mired in 24th and 26th following their late green flag pit stops.

Then with 11 laps remaining, the caution flew when Heim snapped sideways by himself through Turns 3 and 4 and backed his No. 67 Robinhood Toyota Camry XSE entry hard against the outside wall, which damaged the rear end of the entry and terminated Heim’s strong performance. During the caution period, split pit strategies ensued as some led by Reddick pitted while eight competitors, including the leader Elliott and Hamlin, remained on the track.

The next restart with four laps remaining featured Hamlin and Elliott dueling for the lead through the frontstretch and the first two turns before Elliott used the inside lane to muscle ahead of Hamlin through the backstretch. While Reddick was using two fresh tires to motor up to fifth place, Elliott led the next lap. Reddick had his late-race charge stalled as he could not reel in Buescher for fourth place, while Elliott continued to lead by a steady margin over Hamlin.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Elliott remained in the lead over Hamlin while Nemechek got wrecked by Kyle Busch through Turns 3 and 4. With Nemechek nursing his damaged entry below the racing surface, the event remained under green flag conditions. As Hamlin was unable to mount a final-lap charge, Elliott was able to cycle back to the frontstretch and claim the checkered flag by four-tenths of a second.

With the victory, Elliott, who won at Martinsville Speedway in late March after beating Hamlin then, notched his 23rd NASCAR Cup Series career win in his 369th series start, his second at Texas in three years and his second of the 2026 season, thus becoming the second repeat winner through 11 events this season. Elliott’s Texas victory was also the second of the 2026 season for Hendrick Motorsports and the third for the Chevrolet manufacturer.