NASCAR Cup Series: Chase Elliott gets first win of 2026 season in Martinsville

Chase Elliott got his first win of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, outdueling Virginia native Denny Hamlin to take the checkered flag at the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday.

Frustrating day for Hamlin, who led 292 laps, but gave up the lead to Elliott with 68 laps too go, going on to lose by a .565-second margin.

“He did a good job controlling the pace there,’’ said Hamlin, who won both stages and was actually leading by three seconds on Lap 261, when Elliott short-pitted to gain track position.

“Just really came from that bad restart. Just not much more that I could have done there. I felt like we gave it our all,” said Hamlin, who won at Las Vegas earlier this month.

Elliott, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champ, notched his 22nd career Cup Series victory.

“We’ve never had a win this early in the season. Just a really great team effort,” Elliott said. “So proud of [crew chief] Alan [Gustafson]. The crew really did a great job. We took a gamble and were going to two-stop that last stage and honestly believe it was going to work out either way.”

Joey Logano rebounded from a rough 33rd-place outing last week at Darlington to finish third on Sunday – equaling his best showing of the season.

“Weekends like last weekend you start to question everything, you have to right, as a competitor you have to do that, but nice to have a good rebound, solid car,” Logano said. “Our car honestly, if we were able to get to the lead, I don’t know that the 9-car [Elliott] was any better than us, he just got the clean air at the right time. Proud of this team.’’

Fourth-place finisher Ty Gibbs recorded his fourth Top 5 in the last five races, and his first Top 10 at Martinsville.

William Byron – a three-time Martinsville winner – was fifth after leading six laps. Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson and Josh Berry rounded out the Top 10.

The 2026 season’s four-time race winner Tyler Reddick finished 15^th, but still holds a massive 82-point advantage over Blaney and is 94 points ahead of Hamlin atop the NASCAR Cup Series standings.

Reddick’s 23XI Racing teammate, Bubba Wallace, who finished 36th after triggering a 12-car accident on Lap 325, dropped from third place to 11th in the standings.

Cook Out 400: Order of finish

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1. (10)  Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 400.
2. (1)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 400.
3. (9)  Joey Logano, Ford, 400.
4. (4)  Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 400.
5. (2)  William Byron, Chevrolet, 400.
6. (12)  Ryan Blaney, Ford, 400.
7. (11)  Christopher Bell, Toyota, 400.
8. (6)  Austin Cindric, Ford, 400.
9. (13)  Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 400.
10. (3)  Josh Berry, Ford, 400.
11. (5)  Shane Van Gisbergen, Chevrolet, 400.
12. (17)  Ryan Preece, Ford, 400.
13. (23)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 400.
14. (27)  Chase Briscoe, Toyota, 400.
15. (8)  Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 400.
16. (18)  Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 400.
17. (7)  Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 400.
18. (20)  Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 400.
19. (16)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 399.
20. (22)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 399.
21. (19)  Erik Jones, Toyota, 399.
22. (21)  Justin Allgaier(i), Chevrolet, 398.
23. (29)  Todd Gilliland, Ford, 398.
24. (34)  Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 398.
25. (30)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 398.
26. (25)  Connor Zilisch #, Chevrolet, 397.
27. (28)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 397.
28. (31)  Noah Gragson, Ford, 397.
29. (32)  John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 397.
30. (33)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 397.
31. (24)  Cole Custer, Chevrolet, 396.
32. (35)  Cody Ware, Chevrolet, 394.
33. (37)  Austin Hill(i), Chevrolet, 394.
34. (14)  Zane Smith, Ford, 371.
35. (26)  Riley Herbst, Toyota, Accident, 323.
36. (15)  Bubba Wallace, Toyota, Accident, 322.
37. (36)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, Brakes, 298.

Race stats

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• Average Speed of Race Winner: 75.457 mph.
• Time of Race:  2 Hrs, 47 Mins, 18 Secs.
• Margin of Victory: .565 Seconds.
• Caution Flags: 5 for 54 laps.
• Lead Changes: 8 among 6 drivers.
• Lap Leaders:  Denny Hamlin 1-38; William Byron 39-44; Denny Hamlin 45-289; Ryan Blaney 290-291; Josh Berry 292-293; Chase Elliott 294-308; Denny Hamlin 309-317; Ross Chastain 318-331; Chase Elliott 332-400.
• Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Denny Hamlin 3 times for 292 laps; Chase Elliott 2 times for 84 laps; Ross Chastain 1 time for 14 laps; William Byron 1 time for 6 laps; Ryan Blaney 1 time for 2 laps; Josh Berry 1 time for 2 laps.