By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service
MARTINSVILLE, Va. – (March 29, 2026) Good pit strategy and a highly-motivated team rallied Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott to the NASCAR Cup Series victory Sunday in the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway; the sport’s reigning Most Popular Driver delivering Chevrolet its first win of the season all to the delight of a huge enthusiastic crowd at the historic half-miler.
Elliott short-pitted on lap 261 to gain track position then moved his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet into the lead for good after a restart with 68 laps remaining – ultimately out-running the day’s most dominant driver, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin to the checkered flag by .565-second to extend the Hendrick team’s track record win total to 31 victories.
“It was definitely a team effort, how about that, that was awesome,’’ said Elliott, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion, who made his very first NASCAR Cup Series start at Martinsville exactly 11 years ago to the day.
“We’ve never had a win this early in the season,” Elliott said, adding,
“Sure is a lot of fun when days like this work out.’’
Elliott, 30, of Dawsonville, Ga., said he had been confident in the car’s speed all weekend and on Sunday, just needed that clutch pit call to get up front and seize the chance.
Hamlin’s No. 11 JGR Toyota led a race-best 292 of the 400 laps and for much of the afternoon looked to absolutely run away with his seventh grandfather clock trophy. But after Elliott got out front, Hamlin was playing catch-up and never really was able to get close enough to attempt a pass in the closing laps as the leaders navigated lapped traffic.
Team Penske’s Joey Logano rebounded from a rough 33rd-place outing last week at Darlington, S.C. to finish third Sunday – equaling his best showing of the season in the No. 22 Ford.
The season’s four-time race winner Tyler Reddick finished 15th 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.
The NASCAR Cup Series takes the first of the season’s two off-weeks next weekend before resuming competition April 12 in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Larson is the defending Bristol Spring race winner.