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 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.
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“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.”
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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.”
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SHOP: Winner gear
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.”
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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 Raceway 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.
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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 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 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 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Larson is the defending Bristol Spring race winner.
Stage 2 recap: Hamlin sweeps Martinsville stages
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Hamlin continued his short-track mastery, leading the entire stage and making it known that the race win will have to go through him.
The Toyotas as a whole started to move forward with Hamlin’s JGR teammate Gibbs following the No. 11’s tire tracks and placing second in the middle frame.
The Team Penske trio also started flexing over the long run, with Logano, Blaney and Cindric settling into the top six.
William Byron was the highest-placed Chevrolet in fifth.
Reddick, Shane van Gisbergen, Larson and Berry took the remaining stage points.
After a fairly clean opening stage, the middle portion opened Pandora’s box slightly in terms of tire strategy after Noah Gragson was spun due to early contact in the stage and several cars in mid-pack opted for new tires, highlighted by defending series champion Larson, who was running 15th when the caution came out.
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Stage 1 recap: Hamlin retakes lead from Byron before stage checkered
Hamlin won the opening frame of Sunday’s 400-lapper around the historic Martinsville Speedway.
Hamlin took command, leading the opening 38 laps from pole until he caught lapped traffic and lost the lead to Byron for a handful of laps. He retook it six laps later and won Stage 1 under caution after Cody Ware spun on Lap 78.
The six-time Martinsville winner won his ninth stage at “The Paperclip.” Byron, Berry, Gibbs and Cindric rounded out the top five.
Van Gisbergen, Logano, Blaney, Reddick and Ryan Preece completed the top 10 to earn stage points.
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Brad Keselowski rolled off 23rd and charged all the way up to 16th in the first stint of Sunday’s contest as he looks to join Richard Petty as the only drivers to win in their 600th Cup start.
Note: Post-race technical inspection concluded in the Cup Series garage without issue, confirming Elliott as the race winner.
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