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Chase Elliott Outruns Denny Hamlin To Win Cook Out 400 At Martinsville Speedway

by Hunter Thomas March 29, 2026 0 comments

RIDGEWAY, Va. – Denny Hamlin had the dominate car, but it was Chase Elliott who prevailed to win the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway.

Elliott has had an up and down start to the 2026 season. Entering Sunday’s race, he had earned three top-10 finishes, but he also finished as low as 23^rd at Phoenix Raceway; however, despite the inconsistency, Elliott did what Hendrick Motorsports does best at Martinsville Speedway, and that is win. He had command of the final 69 laps and outran Hamlin to win his first race of the season and his second at Martinsville.

“It was definitely a team effort, man,” Elliott said. “How about that? That was awesome. We’ve never had a win this early in the season. Just a really great team effort, man. So proud of Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) and the whole UniFirst team. They did a great job.

“We took a gamble. We were going to two-stop that last stage. I honestly think it was going to work out good for us either way. Just so proud of them. Man, they put up with a lot (smiling). They got to put up with me all the time. I just appreciate them for sticking with me.”

Hamlin finished a close second. The driver of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Bob’s Discount Furniture Toyota absolutely dominated the day. He started on the pole, swept Stages 1 and 2 and led 292 of 400 laps. In the closing laps, Hamlin could see Elliott, but he just couldn’t quite challenge for the win.

“He (Elliott) did a good job controlling the pace there,” Hamlin said. “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 in our Bob’s Discount Furniture Camry.”

Joey Logano finished third, followed by Ty Gibbs and William Byron. Completing the top-10 was Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson and Josh Berry.

There were eight lead changes among six drivers.

The caution flew five times for 54 laps.

The first caution for an accident came out on Lap 79, when John Hunter Nemechek spun Cody Ware in Turn 4.

On Lap 106, contact with AJ Allmendinger sent Noah Gragson spinning in Turn 4.

The final caution of the day came out on Lap 325, and it was a huge crash. Carson Hocevar spun out of Turn 4, and 11 drivers piled up on the frontstretch.

Tyler Reddick continues to lead the standings by 82 points over Blaney.

Up next on the schedule for the NASCAR Cup Series is a visit to Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, April 12 for the Food City 500. Live coverage will broadcast on FS1 at 3 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Hunter Thomas/TheFourthTurn.com