Chase Elliott Breaks Through at Martinsville for Hendrick's First Win of 2026
This win marks the earliest in the season that Elliott has ever won a race, and in doing so, he helps elevate Hendrick following their slow start.
Elliott Records 1st Chevy Win of '26 at Martinsville Jacob Kupferman - Getty Images The No. 9 Hendrick team's risk of short pitting in the final stage paid off with a win for Chase Elliott at Martinsville Sunday afternoon. This win marks the first win for Hendrick Motorsports of the season and the first for Chevy following five wins for Toyota, four of which were provided by Tyler Reddick and one for Ford.
Denny Hamlin was the class of the field for the majority of the race, leading 292 of 400 laps, just short of the Gen 7 record for most laps led set by Elliott’s teammate William Byron last fall. But when Hamlin lost the lead to Ross Chastain on a bad restart, it opened the door for a different winner. Elliott was running ninth in the final stage after qualifying tenth, and passing up near the front at Martinsville was sparse.
Alan Gustafson made the call for Elliott to come in and pit early on lap 262. With the leaders coming to pit closer to lap 300, Elliott made it up to second when a debris caution was called on lap 311. Under caution, Elliott was able to go and get tires to get back on the same strategy as the leaders.
The debris caution was followed by a multi-car crash caution two laps later, when Bubba Wallace ran into Carson Hocevar, collecting Zane Smith, Austin Dillon, Daniel Suarez, Chris Buescher, Riley Herbst, John Hunter Nemechek, Erik Jones, and Connor Zilisch. Elliott was still in second on the following restart, starting on the outside of Chastain with 68 laps remaining. Two laps in Elliott made the pass on Chastain to lead for the second time.