Chase Elliott snags second NASCAR Cup Collection 2026 victory at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon within the Wurth 400.
FORT WORTH, Texas — In an occasion that spelled catastrophe for a handful of the NASCAR Cup Collection’ established stars, Chase Elliott ran an impeccable race—and was rewarded with victory in Sunday’s Würth 400 Offered by LIQUI MOLY at Texas Motor Speedway.
Chase Elliott: Second Victory
Elliott didn’t lead till lap 152 of 267, when Corey Heim introduced his Toyota to pit highway for gas on an off-cycle technique. From that time on, the motive force of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet managed the race with an iron fist, thanks partly to a pit crew that carried out its three quickest pit stops of the season on Sunday.
After Heim spun within the fourth flip to trigger the seventh and closing warning of the race, nonetheless, Elliott needed to survive a restart with 4 laps left. However with a push from teammate and third-place finisher Alex Bowman, he cleared runner-up Denny Hamlin off the second flip and pulled away to win by 0.407 seconds.
The victory was Elliott’s second at Texas, his second of the season and the twenty third of his profession. He joins fourth-place finisher Tyler Reddick (5 victories) as a a number of winner this season. Elliott can be the primary repeat winner within the final ten races at Texas.
“I wasn’t actually positive whether or not to go high or backside,” Elliott mentioned of the ultimate restart. “You already know, the underside had been successful out on a number of the restarts. I felt like, man, if I didn’t get clear off of (flip 2), I used to be going to be in a number of bother.
“Luckily, Alex gave me an awesome push. Was capable of execute turns 1 and a pair of, get clear, after which simply form of handle the previous few laps… Yeah, man, simply loopy. You already know, to say as a lot as we struggled out right here to have gained two races right here now in the previous few years is fairly wild.”
Elliott led a race-high 87 laps to 69 for Heim, who completed thirty first.
Hamlin rued the warning that interrupted his pursuit of Elliott with 11 laps left, however he bought a powerful launch on the ultimate restart.
“Yeah, I believed I bought an excellent restart there on the finish side-by-side,” mentioned Hamlin, who completed second to Elliott for the second time this season (the primary at Martinsville). “However then, , simply the way in which the side-draft works there into flip 1, with him getting the push from the 48 (Bowman), it simply allowed his momentum to choose up somewhat bit faster than mine.
“I attempted to hold on to the aspect, however I used to be simply getting tighter the nearer I used to be attending to him. So good, first rate day. Only one quick.”
Reddick pitted for 2 tires earlier than the ultimate restart and charged from ninth to fourth on the end.
“All in all, it was a strong day,” mentioned Reddick, who leads the sequence by 109 factors over second-place Hamlin and 117 over third-place Elliott. “It was good to go for it there on the 2 tires.
“Simply had a few passes that took somewhat longer than they wanted to, and that was the distinction between… I don’t know if we might have gotten again to the lead, however I believe if we performed it completely, we may have gotten second. All in all, it was an excellent day.”
Chris Buescher completed fifth within the quickest Ford. Daniel Suarez, pole winner Carson Hocevar, William Byron, Bubba Wallace, and Ryan Blaney accomplished the highest ten.
Rookie Connor Zilisch recorded each his finest qualifying effort of the season (twelfth) and his finest Cup end on an oval observe (sixteenth).
Texas Attrition
All through the race, attrition eradicated potential contenders.
Christopher Bell’s star-crossed season continued with out abatement at Texas Motor Speedway. Bell had simply fought off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Hamlin to retain the lead when Todd Gilliland spun in entrance of Bell’s Toyota off the fourth activate lap 68.
Bell took evasive motion towards the underside of the observe however clipped Gilliland’s Ford simply sufficient to ship Bell’s Camry rocketing into the skin wall, severely damaging the right-side suspension parts.
The prognosis of Bell’s automobile was terminal, and he exited the race in final (thirty eighth) place.
“It was one other a type of 50-50 calls,” Bell mentioned of his split-second determination to attempt to dodge Gilliland’s automobile. “Me and Denny had been side-by-side, and I noticed him (Gilliland) spinning and Denny lifted, and I believed that I may shoot the hole on the underside.
“And I believed I did shoot the hole on the underside, however I bought clipped.”
Defending race winner Joey Logano fared no higher. Throughout pit stops beneath warning on lap 94, Cole Custer slowed to permit Ty Gibbs to exit his stall. Logano slammed into Custer’s automobile, peeling again the left entrance fender of Logano’s Mustang like a can opener.
With the correct entrance tire of his automobile skewed out of correct orientation, the three-time champion retired from the race.
“I’ll simply maintain digging and go to the subsequent one,” Logano mentioned philosophically.
Seven laps after Logano’s demise, Bristol winner Ty Gibbs slammed into the third flip wall off the bumper of Ryan Preece’s Ford and fell out of the race in thirty fifth.
Reigning sequence champion Kyle Larson wasn’t resistant to calamity both. On lap 160, he spun within the second flip and clobbered the wall with the motive force’s aspect of his No. 5 Chevrolet.
“I simply misplaced it,” mentioned Larson, who took the automobile to the storage, his hopes for a second Texas victory dashed.
What Kyle Busch misplaced was his mood. After qualifying sixth, Busch ran persistently within the high 5 and earned factors within the first stage. He was set for a top-ten end till he tangled with the Toyota of John Hunter Nemechek after the ultimate restart.
Busch took out his frustrations on the white-flag lap, knocking Nemechek’s automobile sideways. Busch pale to twentieth on a day that began with promise and led to disappointment.
Subsequent Up
The NASCAR Cup Collection travels subsequent to Watkins Glen Worldwide for subsequent Sunday’s Go Bowling on the Glen. The race begins at 3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The defending winner is Shane Van Gisbergen.
