April 3, 2026; Ft. Worth, Texas, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Elliott (9) celebrates after winning the NASCAR WŸrth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY at Texas Motor Speedway. Photo Credit: Michael C. Johnson

By John Sturbin, Raceday San Antonio

FORT WORTH _ NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver may have a new favorite racetrack. Or not.

April 3, 2026; Ft. Worth, Texas, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Elliott (9) takes the checked flag after winning the NASCAR WŸrth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY at Texas Motor Speedway. Photo Credit: Michael C. Johnson

An outspoken critic of Texas Motor Speedway’s reconfigured and high-banked/1.5-mile oval, Elliott marked a workmanlike NASCAR Cup Series victory in Sunday’s WURTH 400 presented by Liqui Moly with a sense of irony.  

“I have not been a huge fan of this place, and I’ve made that very obvious, but we continue to work hard,” Elliott said after executing a lengthy frontstretch burnout in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. “I really think this is a testament to the whole No. 9 Prime Video Chevrolet team. Not just the No. 9 team, but everybody at Hendrick Motorsports.

“We’ve not been where we wanted to be throughout portions of the season, but everybody’s just been digging in really hard _ from the engine shop at Hendrick Motorsports to all the setup shops and everybody at Team Chevy. It’s just crazy. As much as we’ve struggled at Texas, to have won two races here now in the last few years, is pretty wild.”

April 3, 2026; Ft. Worth, Texas, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Elliott (9) does a burn out after winning the NASCAR WŸrth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY at Texas Motor Speedway. Photo Credit: Michael C. Johnson

Elliott, who is paired with crew chief Alan Gustafson, emerged from a restart on Lap 264 of the scheduled 267 to defeat Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing by 0.407-seconds.

“Alan came on the radio and said, ‘Two-time Texas winner,’ and I thought, ‘I’ll be damned!’ I would’ve never thought,” Elliott said. “Yeah, I trashed this place for years. I didn’t like what they did to the racetrack in reconfiguring Turns 1 and 2.”

TMS was reconfigured and repaved early in 2017, with the original 24-degree banking in Turns 1 and 2 lowered to 20-degrees. The entry to those turns also was widened and flattened. The banking in Turns 3 and 4 has remained at 24-degrees, creating a unique setup balance challenge for the teams.

April 3, 2026; Ft. Worth, Texas, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Elliott (9) crew celebrate winning the NASCAR WŸrth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY at Texas Motor Speedway. Photo Credit: Michael C. Johnson

“It was so fun for me,” said Elliott, a 30-year-old native of Dawsonville, Ga. “And there’s some selfish opinion in that because I thought it was a really strong track and it turned into a not-strong track. Certainly, when you run better it grows on you. I think the fan reception the last couple of years has been really strong. I think the energy’s been really good out here.

“And yeah, for as hard a time as I’ve given it, for some reason it likes me and it loves me back. I’m learning to come around a little bit.”

The 2020 Cup champion, Sunday’s win was Elliott’s second at TMS and eighth top-10 finish in 16 races at “The Great American Speedway.” Elliott’s victory here in the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 on April 14, 2024 snapped a 42-race series winless streak.

April 3, 2026; Ft. Worth, Texas, USA; Confetti covers the winning car of NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Elliott (9) after the NASCAR WŸrth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY at Texas Motor Speedway. Photo Credit: Michael C. Johnson

Recall that Elliott, who now has 23 career Cup victories, held off Hamlin to win the Cookout 400 at Martinsville Speedway on March 29. In fact, this is the earliest in any season that Elliott has visited Victory Lane twice.

Elliott and Hamlin were paired again at the front of the field following the day’s seventh caution period on Lap 258 of the scheduled 267-lapper. Elliott and Hamlin elected to remain on-track during the ensuing pit stop cycle that saw the remaining eight top-10 cars pit for Goodyear Eagle tires and fuel.

When the race went green with four laps remaining, Elliott’s restart easily cleared Hamlin coming out of Turn 2, with the cars of Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports, Chris Buescher of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing and series point-leader Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing in tow.

April 3, 2026; Ft. Worth, Texas, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Elliott (9) addresses the media after winning the NASCAR WŸrth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY at Texas Motor Speedway. Photo Credit: Michael C. Johnson

“Alex gave me a great push, and I was able to execute through Turns 1 and 2 clear,” said Elliott, the son of 1988 Cup champion Bill Elliott. “It was cool to get a win at Martinsville and now here…a great testament to our team. Have to make the most of a great team, the boss (team-owner Rick Hendrick) at home wants to win. But lots of racing left.”

Elliott led five times for a race-high 87 laps after qualifying 14^th in the 38-car field.

Hamlin, who led five times for 21 laps, knew he needed his No. 11 Progressive Insurance Toyota Camry XSE to be at the front for the restart, negating any idea of pitting. His options narrowed immediately when the race went green.

April 3, 2026; Ft. Worth, Texas, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Elliott (9) celebrates after winning the NASCAR WŸrth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY at Texas Motor Speedway. Photo Credit: Michael C. Johnson

“I could’ve risked it off of (Turn) 2 and crashed both of us,” said Hamlin, a 45-year-old resident of Chesterfield, Va. “I thought if I had hung onto his quarter panel anymore, I just thought that I was going to end up hitting the fence. Just not quite what I needed. I got the first part of the restart really well just he got that push from the No. 48 (teammate Bowman) right there right entering Turn 1 and it was just enough to slow my momentum and pick his momentum up. Really close _ just not quite enough.”

Bowman finished third in the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, followed by Reddick in the No. 45 Rockstar Energy Drink Toyota. Buescher, a former resident of Prosper, Texas, completed the top-five in the No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang.

April 3, 2026; Ft. Worth, Texas, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Elliott (9) celebrates winning the NASCAR WŸrth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY at Texas Motor Speedway. Photo Credit: Michael C. Johnson

“We were all very close with the No. 9 and the No. 11,” said Reddick, winner of five of the season’s first 11 races. “Just kind of spread out a little bit there. I was hoping I was going to have a little bit of speed late in the run to close and it didn’t really happen for us.

“All in all, it was a solid day. It was nice to go for it there with two tires (on the last pit stop). Just had a couple passes that took a little longer than they needed to and that was the difference. I don’t know if we would’ve got back to the lead, but I think if we played it perfectly, we could’ve got second.”

A 30-year-old native of Corning, Calif., Reddick exited Texas with a 109-point lead over Hamlin and a 117-point advantage over Elliott. The series is headed for an unusual early-season visit to the Watkins Glen International road-course in New York State’s Finger Lakes Region.

For the record, Elliott scored back-to-back Cup victories on “The Glen’s” 2.45-mile, natural-terrain layout in 2018 and 2019.

“I’m really proud of our team for the day that we had,” Elliott said. “It was one of our stronger races in quite some time from restarts, to pit road, to race strategy, to me behind the wheel. Super-proud of our team for that. That was a lot of fun.”

Interviews:

Race winning driver Chase Elliott (No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet) –

Cup Series race-winning team: Vice Chairman of Hendrick Motorsports Jeff Gordon and crew chief Alan Gustafson (No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet) –