Chase Elliott wasn’t better than Denny Hamlin for the majority of Sunday’s Cook Out 400, but he was when it mattered the most.
The eight-time NASCAR Most Popular Driver used pit strategy, stayed out ahead of a dominant Denny Hamlin and finally put Chevrolet into Victory Lane by winning at the half-mile Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Va.
Elliott short-pitted from ninth place on Lap 261, took advantage of a caution for debris and beat the Joe Gibbs Racing driver by 0.565 seconds to give Chevrolet the checkers for the first time in seven races in 2026.
He led twice for 84 laps in his 22nd career victory and second at the tight bullring.
“It was definitely a team effort,” said Elliott, who also won at the track on Nov. 1, 2020. “We’ve never had a win this early in the season. … We took a gamble. We were going to two-stop that last stage, and I honestly think it was going to work out for us either way.
“It sure is a lot of fun when days like this work out.”
Chevrolet earned its seventh win in the past 12 Martinsville races.
Hamlin torched the field by leading 292 laps, but he banged into Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 on the frontstretch on Lap 334 while chasing Elliott.
“He did a good job of controlling the pace there,” said Hamlin. “It really came from that bad restart I had beside (Ross Chastain) and not really much I could’ve done there. I thought I had a loose wheel. It felt similar to Darlington in the back.
“These are just some of the races that get away from you in your career. This one is certainly one of them.”
Joey Logano, Ty Gibbs and William Byron rounded out the top-five finishers.
Brad Keselowksi became the 36th driver in NASCAR history to make 600 career starts and came home 13th in his No. 6 RFK Racing Ford.
After scoring his fifth pole at the Virginia short track, Hamlin led the first 38 circuits before his No. 11 Toyota caught the tail end of the field, which allowed Byron’s Chevrolet to squeeze by for six laps before Hamlin regained the point.
Stage 1 ended under caution with Hamlin leading 74 of the 80 laps. Trailing second-place Byron were Josh Berry, Gibbs and Austin Cindric as the field prepared for the first round of pit stops.
Hamlin continued to pace the way by just more than a second 150 laps in, but all three Penske drivers — Logano, Cindric and Ryan Blaney — came alive and gridded inside the top five with Berry’s No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford in 10th.
Toyotas claimed the first two spots in Stage 2 — Hamlin winning again, then Gibbs — and the Fords of Logano and Blaney followed distantly. Byron was fifth.
With 200 laps to go, the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets of Kyle Larson, Elliott and Byron were in the top 10 chasing leader Hamlin.
Elliott took advantage of the pit cycle to lead, but Hamlin’s Camry shot by him with 93 laps remaining. Then caution four flew on Lap 312 for debris, putting Elliott’s No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy in the second position ahead of Blaney, Gibbs and Christopher Bell.
–Field Level Media
