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May 04, 2026
By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service
Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images
FORT WORTH, Texas — In an event that spelled disaster for a handful of the NASCAR Cup Series’ established stars, Chase Elliott ran an impeccable race—and was rewarded with victory in Sunday’s Würth 400 Presented by LIQUI MOLY at Texas Motor Speedway.
Elliott didn’t lead until Lap 152 of 267, when Corey Heim brought his Toyota to pit road for fuel on an off-cycle strategy. From that point on, the driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet controlled the race with an iron fist, thanks in part to a pit crew that performed its three fastest pit stops of the season on Sunday.
After Heim spun in Turn 4 to cause the seventh and final caution of the race, however, Elliott had to survive a restart with four laps left. But with a push from teammate and third-place finisher Alex Bowman, he cleared runner-up Denny Hamlin off Turn 2 and pulled away to win by 0.407 seconds.
The victory was Elliott’s second at Texas, his second of the season and the 23rd of his career. He joins fourth-place finisher Tyler Reddick (five victories) as a multiple winner this season. Elliott also is the first repeat winner in the last 10 races at Texas.
“I wasn’t really sure whether to go top or bottom,” Elliott said of the final restart. “You know, the bottom had been winning out on a lot of the restarts. I felt like, man, if I didn’t get clear off of (Turn 2), I was going to be in a lot of trouble.
“Fortunately, Alex gave me a great push. Was able to execute Turns 1 and 2, get clear, and then just kind of manage the last few laps… 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.”
Elliott led a race-high 87 laps to 69 for Heim, who finished 31st.
Hamlin rued the caution that interrupted his pursuit of Elliott with 11 laps left, but he got a strong launch on the final restart.
“Yeah, I thought I got a good restart there at the end side-by-side,” said Hamlin, who finished second to Elliott for the second time this season (the first at Martinsville). “But then, you know, just the way the side-draft works there into Turn 1, with him getting the push from the 48 (Bowman), it just allowed his momentum to pick up a little bit quicker than mine.
“I tried to hang on to the side, but I was just getting tighter the closer I was getting to him. So good, decent day. Just one short.”
Reddick pitted for two tires before the final restart and charged from ninth to fourth at the finish.
“All in all, it was a solid day,” said Reddick, who leads the series by 109 points over second-place Hamlin and 117 over third-place Elliott. “It was nice to go for it there on the two tires.
“Just had a couple of passes that took a little longer than they needed to, and that was the difference between… I don’t know if we would have got back to the lead, but I think if we played it perfectly, we could have got second. All in all, it was a good day.”
Chris Buescher finished fifth in the fastest Ford. Daniel Suarez, pole winner Carson Hocevar, William Byron, Bubba Wallace and Ryan Blaney completed the top 10.
Rookie Connor Zilisch recorded both his best qualifying effort of the season (12th) and his best Cup finish on an oval track (16th).
Throughout the race, attrition eliminated potential contenders.
Christopher Bell’s star-crossed season continued without abatement at Texas Motor Speedway. Bell had just fought off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Hamlin to retain the lead when Todd Gilliland spun in front of Bell’s Toyota off Turn 4 on Lap 68.
Bell took evasive action toward the bottom of the track but clipped Gilliland’s Ford just enough to send Bell’s Camry rocketing into the outside wall, severely damaging the right-side suspension components.
The diagnosis of Bell’s car was terminal, and he exited the race in last (38th) place.
“It was another one of those 50-50 calls,” Bell said of his split-second decision to try to dodge Gilliland’s car. “Me and Denny were side-by-side, and I saw him (Gilliland) spinning and Denny lifted, and I thought that I could shoot the gap on the bottom.
“And I thought I did shoot the gap on the bottom, but I got clipped.”
Defending race winner Joey Logano fared no better. During pit stops under caution on Lap 94, Cole Custer slowed to allow Ty Gibbs to exit his stall. Logano slammed into Custer’s car, peeling back the left front fender of Logano’s Mustang like a can opener.
With the right front tire of his car skewed out of proper orientation, the three-time champion retired from the race.
“I’ll just keep digging and go to the next one,” Logano said philosophically.
Seven laps after Logano’s demise, Bristol winner Ty Gibbs slammed into the Turn 3 wall off the bumper of Ryan Preece’s Ford and fell out of the race in 35th.
Reigning series champion Kyle Larson wasn’t immune from calamity either. On Lap 160, he spun in Turn 2 and clobbered the wall with the driver’s side of his No. 5 Chevrolet.
“I just lost it,” said Larson, who took the car to the garage, his hopes for a second Texas victory dashed.
What Kyle Busch lost was his temper. After qualifying sixth, Busch ran consistently in the top five and earned points in the first stage. He was set for a top-10 finish until he tangled with the Toyota of John Hunter Nemechek after the final restart.
Busch took out his frustrations on the white-flag lap, knocking Nemechek’s car sideways. Busch faded to 20th on a day that started with promise and ended in disappointment.
The NASCAR Cup Series travels next to Watkins Glen International for next Sunday’s Go Bowling at the Glen (3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
NASCAR Cup Series Race – Würth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY
Texas Motor Speedway
Fort Worth, Texas
Sunday, May 3, 2026
- (14) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 267.
- (4) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 267.
- (9) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 267.
- (8) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 267.
- (3) Chris Buescher, Ford, 267.
- (2) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 267.
- (1) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 267.
- (15) William Byron, Chevrolet, 267.
- (37) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 267.
- (31) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 267.
- (18) Riley Herbst, Toyota, 267.
- (21) Erik Jones, Toyota, 267.
- (25) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 267.
- (20) Ryan Preece, Ford, 267.
- (13) Austin Cindric, Ford, 267.
- (12) Connor Zilisch #, Chevrolet, 267.
- (30) Shane Van Gisbergen, Chevrolet, 267.
- (38) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 267.
- (22) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 267.
- (6) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 267.
- (33) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 266.
- (34) Zane Smith, Ford, 266.
- (5) Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 266.
- (35) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 266.
- (26) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 266.
- (16) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 266.
- (19) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 266.
- (28) Noah Gragson, Ford, 266.
- (24) Josh Berry, Ford, 266.
- (29) Cody Ware, Chevrolet, 265.
- (17) Corey Heim(i), Toyota, Accident, 254.
- (32) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 254.
- (36) Chad Finchum(i), Ford, 223.
- (11) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 180.
- (27) Cole Custer, Chevrolet, 173.
- (10) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, Accident, 110.
- (23) Joey Logano, Ford, Accident, 95.
- (7) Christopher Bell, Toyota, Accident, 68.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 136.315 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 56 Mins, 17 Secs. Margin of Victory: .407 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 7 for 40 laps.
Lead Changes: 23 among 11 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C. Hocevar 1-19;D. Hamlin 20-35;C. Hocevar 36-41;B. Keselowski 42;C. Briscoe 43-46;C. Bell 47-68;D. Hamlin 69-70;E. Jones 71-83;C. Hocevar 84-88;T. Gibbs 89;C. Hocevar 90-94;*. Heim(i) 95-151;C. Elliott 152-160;D. Hamlin 161;B. Keselowski 162-164;C. Elliott 165-214;D. Hamlin 215;R. Herbst 216;C. Hocevar 217-221;R. Blaney 222-226;*. Heim(i) 227-238;C. Elliott 239-262;D. Hamlin 263;C. Elliott 264-267.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Chase Elliott 4 times for 87 laps; * Corey Heim(i) 2 times for 69 laps; Carson Hocevar 5 times for 40 laps; Christopher Bell 1 time for 22 laps; Denny Hamlin 5 times for 21 laps; Erik Jones 1 time for 13 laps; Ryan Blaney 1 time for 5 laps; Chase Briscoe 1 time for 4 laps; Brad Keselowski 2 times for 4 laps; Riley Herbst 1 time for 1 lap; Ty Gibbs 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 43,77,47,54,19,8,16,9,24,11
Stage #2 Top Ten: 9,45,6,11,60,7,17,35,77,48
