MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Chase Elliott won the NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 on Sunday, beating Denny Hamlin by 0.565 seconds for his first victory of 2026 and Hendrick Motorsports’ first win of the season, March 29, 2026. Crew chief Alan Gustafson’s decision to short-pit on Lap 261 flipped the race late, giving Elliott the track position he needed after Hamlin had controlled most of the afternoon.
According to the official results, Elliott started 10th and led 84 of 400 laps, while Hamlin started first and led 292. Joey Logano finished third, Ty Gibbs was fourth and William Byron rounded out the top five.
Chase Elliott turns strategy into clean air
The winning move was not built on outright dominance. In NASCAR’s race recap, Hamlin had swept the first two stages and looked set to control the finish until Elliott’s team pitted early in the final stage and then grabbed the lead after a restart with 68 laps left. Elliott called it a “team effort” and said, “We took a gamble.”
The result also carried some symmetry. An Associated Press report on ESPN noted that Elliott’s first Cup start came at Martinsville 11 years earlier, in a race Hamlin won, making Sunday’s finish feel like a full-circle moment as much as a strategy play.
Hamlin did not hide the frustration. In his post-race explanation, he pointed to dirty air, a troublesome restart and a slightly loose left-rear wheel, but still said, “no excuses, we just got beat.” That was about as blunt as it needed to be after the No. 11 controlled nearly three-quarters of the race without collecting the win.
Why Chase Elliott’s Martinsville win mattered
Martinsville has now twice served as a pivot point in Elliott’s Cup career. His previous victory there came in the fall 2020 Martinsville race, when he locked himself into Championship 4.
Sunday also reversed the recent script at Martinsville. In last spring’s Martinsville race, Hamlin dominated the closing run to earn his first victory there since 2015. One year later, he was the driver watching a dominant afternoon slip away.
Instead of another Hamlin celebration, Martinsville belonged to Elliott again. The win was the 22nd of his Cup career and a reminder that at this track, timing and track position can matter as much as raw speed. The Cup Series is off next weekend before returning April 12 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
