Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin have had some notable Martinsville Speedway battles, but the one Sunday came down to pit strategy.
Elliott got track position by pitting earlier than most in the final stage and having the lead when the caution came out with 88 laps remaining. He then outlasted Hamlin, who had dominated the first 300 laps of the race, for the victory.
Back in 2017 at Martinsville, Hamlin spun Elliott in an incident that Elliott fans don’t let Hamlin forget. However, today, there were no fireworks or drama between the two. It was just Elliott with the stronger car at the end.
“How about that?” Elliott, the 2020 series champion and the sport’s most popular driver, said in his interview on the FS1 telecast. “That was awesome.”
Here are my takeaways:
1: Elliott Earns Needed HMS Win
Hendrick Motorsports badly needed a win after getting shut out in the first six races.
Just how uncommon is that? Hendrick had gotten a win in the first three races in each of the last five years.
So when Elliott won, it allowed the entire organization to breathe a sigh of relief.
“There are high expectations within our walls,” Hendrick vice chairman Jeff Gordon said on the FS1 telecast. “Rick [Hendrick] at all times talks about you construct it from the within. You possibly can’t tear it down from the surface, you possibly can tear it down from the within.
“In these moments, I have been round lengthy sufficient the place I’ve seen us battle. These guys, they know the best way to make the most of their instruments, stick collectively, work collectively, share data, get again to the fundamentals. That is what the discussions have been right here lately.”
Chase Elliott scored his first win of the 2026 NASCAR season at Martinsville.
2: What Occurred To Hamlin?
Hamlin sat on the pole and led 292 of the primary 317 laps however couldn’t rally to catch Elliott over the ultimate 69-lap green-flag run.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver, a 61-time race winner, mentioned in his FS1 interview after the race he believed certainly one of his wheels may need been lose over the ultimate run.
“Both method, these are simply a few of the races that get away from you in your profession,” he mentioned. “This one is actually certainly one of them.”
Martinsville pole-sitter Denny Hamlin completed second on Sunday.
3: Wallace Pissed off
23XI Racing driver Bubba Wallace appeared to take out frustration on Spire Motorsports driver Carson Hocevar in turning him and inflicting a multicar wreck with 76 laps left within the race.
Wallace, in his FS1 interview, mentioned he was pissed off with Hocevar for making it three-wide earlier, however he simply misjudged the nook. Hocevar’s group, on its in-car radio, indicated Wallace was pissed off and simply dumped Hocevar, who will not be getting any good thing about the doubt after a begin to his profession the place many view him as being overly aggressive.
“We will win Saturday in apply, simply do not present up on Sunday,” mentioned Wallace, who dropped from third to eleventh within the standings. “I hate it for our group. Simply frustration.”
Bubba Wallace indicated he was disillusioned with how he ran at Martinsville.
4: Good Logano Rebound
Joey Logano rebounded from an terrible Thirty third-place end at Darlington to complete third at Martinsville.
A 3-time Cup champion, Logano is aware of that there might be occasional unhealthy days.
“Weekends like final weekend you begin to query all the pieces,” he mentioned in his FS1 interview. “Good to have rebound, strong automotive.”
Joey Logano’s third-place end on Sunday was a strong rebound from his efficiency at Darlington.
4 ½: What’s Subsequent
The Cup Collection will get certainly one of its two weekends off because it takes a break for the Easter weekend.
There’s nonetheless some NASCAR nationwide sequence racing subsequent weekend. The truck race Friday at Rockingham Speedway and the O’Reilly Collection races Saturday on the 1.016-mile oval.
The Cup groups higher relaxation up. After subsequent weekend, they’ve 16 consecutive weekends of racing.
