NASCAR
Chase Elliott Takes Second Career Texas Motor Speedway Win after Late Duel with Hamlin
FORT WORTH, Texas – Gambling late by staying out on old tires, Chase Elliott capped off a dominant Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway with a trip to victory lane. The Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 team now have two wins through 11 weeks, and two of the last three Texas triumphs. All Chevrolet teams were slow to adapt to their new body in 2026. At this point, Elliott now appears to be in peak form.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Toyotas looked unstoppable early, at one point having four of the top seven spots. Their strength came to an abrupt end when a spinning Todd Gilliland clipped Christopher Bell, ending the 20’s day. This unlucky sequence gave Erik Jones the Stage 1 win. Late on, Chase Elliott would win Stage 2.
Gilliland spins and collects the leader!
Bell’s car has major damage! pic.twitter.com/pNi3FVNcpc
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 3, 2026
Elliott kept the No. 9 in the wind to start Stage 3, soon gapping the rest of the field. The top-ranked Hendrick 9 pit crew made their last service with 53 to go, with Elliott retaking command on lap 239. A late yellow for a Corey Heim spin put Denny Hamlin to Chase Elliott’s outside on a four-lap dash to the checkers. Try as hard as Hamlin could to stay on Elliott’s outside, the 11 was no match for the 9 in turn two. Elliott collected his second win both on the 2026 season and at Texas Motor Speedway. This marks the earliest the 9 team’s ever been to a multi-win season.
CHASE ELLIOTT WINS AT TEXAS! pic.twitter.com/zgZoyk4Re8
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 3, 2026
“Man, first off, thanks everybody for coming out,” Elliott said. “You are awesome. Great crowd as always. I have not been a huge fan of this place, and I’ve made that very obvious. But you know, to continue to work hard, and I really think this is a testament to the whole team. Not just the 9 team, but everybody at Hendrick Motorsports.”
“We have not been where we’ve wanted to be throughout portions of the season. Man, everybody has just been digging in very hard, from the engine shop at Hendrick Motorsports to all the setup shops, to everybody at Team Chevy. Appreciate our partners with Napa and Prime on the car this week. Really cool to have them back. Obviously they’re coming to show our races in a few weeks at Charlotte.”
“Yeah, man, just crazy. You know, to say as much as we struggled out here to have won two races here now in the last few years is pretty wild. So just super grateful for all the people that helped make this possible. Yeah, looking forward to celebrating with them.”
“You know, I wasn’t really sure whether to go top or bottom. The bottom had been winning out on a lot of the restarts. I felt like, man, if I didn’t get clear off of two, I was going to be in a lot of trouble. Fortunately Alex gave me a great push. Was able to execute turns one and two, get clear, and then just kind of manage the last few laps.”
“So it worked out really good, but just, man, it was really cool to get a win as early as we did at Martinsville, and now to have two this early in the year is really special. I think, again, it’s a testament to our team. We have a great group. Those things don’t last forever. I think for us we have to make the most of a great opportunity. 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 try to keep our heads down and keep chugging. Long year. A lot of racing left, so we’ll try to build on it.”
Both of Elliott’s 2026 wins so far have seen Denny Hamlin not far back in second. Behind them were: Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick, and Chris Buescher. The rest of Texas’ top-10 were: Daniel Suarez, Carson Hocevar, William Byron, Bubba Wallace, and Ryan Blaney.
Reddick still holds a triple-digit championship lead over Denny Hamlin, now at 109 points. Elliott moves up to third, 117 off the lead. An early Texas DNF also saw Joey Logano fall from 15th to 17th in points, losing a provisional Chase berth. Take a look at the rest of the updated points below.
Top 30 in #NASCAR Cup Series points after @TXMotorSpeedway
Reddick’s lead is now 109 points, Elliott still in third, and Logano falls out of the top 16. #Wurth400 pic.twitter.com/YWoDh6N05z
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) May 3, 2026
NASCAR Cup cars will go left and right next week on the high-speed road course at Watkins Glen. The Go Bowling at The Glen goes green Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Can Chase Elliott possibly find his old dominant groove at the New York circuit?
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo credit to James Gilbert/Getty Images
