Chase Elliott Wins Texas on Winning Tire Strategy

Chase Elliott won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, capitalizing on successful tire strategy with the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro. He held off Denny Hamlin on the race’s final restart, even as Tyler Reddick surged toward the front on newer tires.

“This is a testament to the whole No. 9 team,” Elliott said. “Not just the No. 9 team but also everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. We’re not where we wanted to be throughout portions of the season, and everybody’s been digging in really hard.”

Alex Bowman continued his 2026 resurgence with a second straight third-place finish. Tyler Reddick followed in fourth, while Chris Buescher came home fifth to deliver a top-five for RFK Racing.

Sunday’s win was the second of the season for Elliott, who first reached Victory Lane at Martinsville Speedway in March. He now has 23 Cup Series wins in his career, as well as a multi-win season for the second year in a row.

Defending NASCAR Cup Series winner Carson Hocevar won the pole for the Sunday’s Würth 400, sparking fan buzz about a second career win just one week after his first. That didn’t come to pass; Hocevar brought the No. 77 Spire Motorsport Chevrolet home in an admirable seventh place.

Kyle Busch’s Frustrations Boil Over

Initially trending toward a top-ten finish, Kyle Busch wound up the last driver on the lead lap. Earlier in the day he complained about the way Carson Hocevar raced him, following the No. 77 appearing to drift down in front of him in Turn 4.

“That’s the f—ing stupid s–t that makes him a f—ing asshole,” Busch said over his radio. Just two days prior, Hocevar and Busch finished first and second in the Craftsman Truck Series race.

Busch also appeared furious with John Hunter Nemechek, who he wrecked on the penultimate lap of the race. Just prior, the two cars made contact and hit the wall together in Turn 3. Busch was 12th at the time of the contact. He wound up 20th.

“Not freaking clear,” Nemechek posted to X after the race. “Great day going. And just got wrecked. What an ass.”

Bad Days for Big Names

An ongoing string of bad luck for Christopher Bell continued on Sunday. Todd Gilliland spun on Lap 67, collecting Bell just before the latter driver came around to lap him. Bell’s No. 20 Toyota slid into the outside wall on the frontstretch, ending his day early. Bell finished 38th and last.

Joey Logano also suffered an early exit from Sunday’s race. On pit road during Stage 2, Logano hit Cole Custer’s stopped car from behind, causing race-ending damage to the No. 22 Ford. Logano was scored 37th, only finishing ahead of Bell.

Ty Gibbs, hoping to rebound from a DNF at Talladega Superspeedway last week, was greeted instead with more misfortune. After possible contact from Ryan Preece on Lap 102, his No. 54 Toyota sustained race-ending damage en route to a 36th-place finish.

Adding to the string of major contenders taken out was Kyle Larson, who spun unassisted in Turn 2 on Lap 160. The No. 5 Chevrolet was able to continue, but the defending Cup Series champ was forced to wait another week at least before snapping his year-plus winless streak.

Points Outlook

The biggest loser from Sunday’s race was Joey Logano, who slipped from 15th in points to 17th. Now seven points outside of the Chase cutoff line, the three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion will need his luck to turn around over the next 15 races to preserve his shot at a fourth title.

Tyler Reddick remains the points leader, as he has been since the season-opening Daytona 500. He sits 109 points ahead of Denny Hamlin, with Chase Elliott moving from fourth to third behind them. Ryan Blaney dropped below Elliott despite a tenth-place finish. Chris Buescher leapt to fifth in the standings, making him the second-highest Ford after Blaney.

Alex Bowman surpassed Cole Custer and Cody Ware in the standings, having lost substantial ground due to a four-race absence amid symptoms of vertigo. He’s still 127 points out, and so it’ll be a tall order for Bowman to get the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet into the Chase.

Race Results