MARTINSVILLE, Va. — 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 Most Popular Driver delivered 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 seconds 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. Just a really great team effort. 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.
“Just so proud. 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.
“This whole deal is really weird the way it works,’’ said Elliott, who now has 22 career wins. “Fortunately got that lead on the last one [restart] and fell into a good pace. Just had enough.
“Probably needed a little bit to be just the absolute best out-right but we were really close and were able to manage and save enough to get through traffic at the end.
“But man, it’s really cool when this stuff works out. To win these races is just so tough. Really grateful for the opportunity as always. I never take it for granted.’’
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.
“He did a good job controlling the pace there,’’ said Hamlin, who won both stages and was actually leading by three-seconds at the point Elliott made that all-important short pit stop to get up to the front.
“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.”
This year’s Las Vegas winner, Hamlin said he was also concerned in the final laps that perhaps the car had a loose wheel on the final run, but said either way, “there are some races that get away from you in your career and this was certainly one of them.’’
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.
“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,’’ the three-time series champion Logano said. “Our car honestly, if we were able to get to the lead, I don’t know that the nine-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 earned his fifth consecutive top-six of the season in the No. 54 JGR Toyota, and fourth top-five in the last five races. It marks his first top-10 at Martinsville.
Hendrick Motorsports William Byron – a three-time Martinsville winner – was fifth after leading six laps in the No. 24 Chevrolet. Penske’s Ryan Blaney, JGR’s Christopher Bell, Penske’s Austin Cindric, Hendrick’s Kyle Larson and Wood Brothers’ Josh Berry rounded out the top-10.
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 Results
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.