CHASE ELLIOTT WINS AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY – TEAM CHEVY PHOTO
· Chase Elliott capped off Chevrolet’s tripleheader weekend
sweep at Texas Motor Speedway – driving his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet to the win in Sunday’s Würth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY.
The victory – Elliott’s second at Texas and his 23rd all-time at
NASCAR’s highest level – is his second trip to victory lane this
season, making the Dawsonville, Georgia, native the series’ second
two-time winner with 11 races complete. Elliott was accompanied by a
trip to victory lane by Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar in
Friday’s Craftsman Truck Series race and Kyle Larson and JR
Motorsports in Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race to make
the Bowtie brand the first manufacturer to complete a tripleheader
weekend sweep this season.
· For the second consecutive weekend, Chevrolet earned five of
the top-10 finishing positions with Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman
earning back-to-back third-place finishes to round out the Team Chevy
top-five. The Spire Motorsports teammates of Daniel Suarez and Carson
Hocevar brought home sixth- and seventh-place results, respectively,
with William Byron rebounding from an early-race spin to capture an
eighth-place finish.
RACE RECAP:
Stage One:
Chevrolet kicked off the NASCAR Cup Series annual trip to Texas Motor
Speedway with its first front-row sweep of the season with Spire
Motorsports teammates, Carson Hocevar and Daniel Suarez, leading the
field to the green flag for Sunday’s race. Picking up right where he
left off, the series most recent winner drove his No. 77 Chevrolet to
the top position to lead the first lap of Stage One. Hocevar held the
lead for the first 19 circuits around the 1.5-mile track but started
losing forward grip early in the run and ultimately slipped to the third
position during the green flag run. But at the conclusion of the first
green flag pit cycle just past the halfway point of Stage One, it was
Kyle Busch that led the Bowtie brigade in the fourth position. Quickly
approaching lap traffic, Busch was able to close the gap to the leaders
to just 1.7-seconds as the opening stage hit 20 laps to go. Despite
losing grip in his right front, Busch managed only a two position loss
before a timely natural caution came with 12 laps to go in the stage.
With a call for a four-tire stop by crew chief Andy Street, Busch lined
up on the fifth row for a six-lap dash to the first green-white
checkered flag. Choosing better track position for the restart,
Hocevar’s crew chief, Luke Lambert, gambled with a two-tire stop, with
the Team Chevy driver going on to lead the manufacturer to the end of
the stage from the second position.
Stage Two:
A late caution saw the majority of the lead pack stay out under the
stage break, putting the No. 77 back on the front row to take the green
flag for Stage Two. Electing the inside lane, it was a drag race for the
lead between the No. 77 and the No. 54 on the opening lap of Stage One
with Hocevar making his way back to the command position. With a short
stint before the second caution of the day flew, Hocevar was among the
lead pack cars that opted to make their second scheduled trip to pit
road of the day. With mixed strategies throughout pit road, it was a
fuel only call by crew chief Ryan Sparks that put Suarez back into the
top-five for the restart. But a two-tire stop by crew chief Alan
Gustafson gave Elliott just what he needed to make a climb towards the
lead with the No. 9 gaining four positions on the restart to make his
way into the runner-up spot. A long green flag run saw Elliott inherit
the lead on Lap 150 as then race leader, Corey Heim, made a scheduled
trip to pit road. Settled into position in what looked to be a run to
the green-white checkered flag, a spin by his teammate, Kyle Larson,
brought out the caution. Making the call for a fresh set of Goodyear
tires, Elliott went from third to a powerhouse pass for the lead on the
final lap to take the Stage Two win.
Final Stage:
Elliott lined up on the outside lane of the front row to lead the field
to the green flag for the final 95 laps of the race. The speed of the
No. 9 Chevrolet prevailed on the restart with Elliott retaining the lead
on the opening lap of the final stage. Just inside 80 laps to go,
Elliott had already inched his way towards a near one-second lead over
second. Approaching the potential for a green flag pit cycle, a quiet
driver behind the wheel reported that he was overall happy with the
handling of his No. 9 Chevrolet. The green flag pit cycle started
shortly thereafter with Elliott giving up the lead with 52 laps to go to
make his way to pit road. As the final two cars left to pit attempted to
stretch their fuel mileage, the green flag run saw the pair forced to
hit pit road to move Elliott back to the lead as the race hit 28 laps to
go in the race. The Team Chevy driver continued to masterfully work his
way through lap traffic and managed to maintain at least an one-second
lead until a caution flew with just 10 laps remaining. With the
majority of the lead pack opting for track position, Elliott led the
field to the restart and a four-lap race to the finish. Choosing the
bottom lane, Elliott was able to clear Denny Hamlin coming out of turn
two on the restart and hold onto the top position to capture his second
checkered flag of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Team Chevy Top-10 Results
Pos. Driver
1st – Chase Elliott
3rd – Alex Bowman
6th – Daniel Suarez
7th – Carson Hocevar
8th – William Byron
The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season continues at Watkins Glen
International with the Go Bowling at The Glen on Sunday, May 10, at 3
p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR
Radio Channel 90.
Post-Race Driver Quotes:
Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Finished: 18th
“We had to battle through that one. Starting at the back of the field
without practice made it a long one for our Bass Pro Shops/Winchester AA
White Flyer team but we kept chipping away it. Our Chevrolet was tight
from the start, and dirty air definitely didn’t help. We ran some of
our fastest laps of the day towards the end of the race though, so we
made it better from the start. Proud of this No. 3 team and everyone at
RCR and ECR.”
Daniel Suarez, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
Finished: 6th
“Very proud of the No. 7 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet team. We had
another fast Chevy this weekend. This weekend was a perfect example of
having a fast racecar and we just had a lot of things go against us,
like the tire yesterday in practice. Today, the first run of the race,
we just really struggled. The car had potential, we just struggled quite
a bit. I’m just very proud of this team for never giving up.”
Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Finished: 20th
“Disappointing end to the day for the No. 8 zone Watermelon Chevrolet
team, but we are making steps in the right direction. We ran in the
top-10 for most of the race today at Texas Motor Speedway, and started
the weekend with a solid sixth-place qualifying effort. Unfortunately,
we ended up with right-front damage after contact battling for position
on the final lap. It turned our top-10 day into a 20th-place result.”
Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Finished: 1st
For the second time this season, Chase Elliott is going to victory Lane,
and for the second time in your career, you get a win here at Texas. We
talk about how tricky this particular mile-and-a-half is, what allowed
you guys to have the success you did today?
“Man, first off, thanks everybody for coming out. Great crowd, as
always. I have not been a huge fan of this place, and I’ve made that
very obvious, but we continue to work hard. I really think this is a
testament to the whole No. 9 Prime Video Chevrolet team. But 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. Just super
grateful for all the people that helped make this possible and looking
forward to celebrating with them.”
Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Finished: 3rd
“I think we made some big gains on our No. 48 Ally Chevrolet from
where we unloaded. We struggled in practice, but we qualified well. This
team chipped away at it all day. There are some things we can definitely
clean up. We still need to be better, for sure, we had a really good
Chevy today. Proud of the pit crew. They did an awesome job. It’s nice
to get this team some good finishes. It’s been tough on them this year
and glad to bring home back-to-back third-place finishes.”
Connor Zilisch, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Finished: 16th
“It was a better day here at Texas Motor Speedway for the No. 88
Choice Privileges Chevrolet team. We’ve struggled on these
intermediate tracks all year long. Although 16th isn’t where we want
to be, it’s a step in the right direction. Thank you to everyone at
Trackhouse Racing for continuing to work hard through the tough days
that we’ve had the past few months. It feels good to finally get a
good result, run on the lead lap all day and get a decent finish for
this team.”
Shane van Gisbergen, No. 97 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
Finished: 17th
“We struggled in qualifying, so we had to makeup for that. That was my
fault yesterday. The No. 97 SuperFile Chevrolet was much better today,
but I just kept hitting the bumps and having big moments. It kind of
limited us to the bottom lane. It was a good points day. We struggled
the last four or five weeks in a row, so it’s good to get a decent
result.”