Chase Elliott has made it clear that he is not a fan of Texas Motor Speedway. Yet, he scored his second win at the track in the last three seasons.
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"Yeah, man, just crazy," Elliott said after the race. "You know, to say as much as we struggled out here to have won two races here now in the last few years is pretty wild.
"So just super grateful for all the people that helped make this possible. Yeah, looking forward to celebrating with them."
MORE: Full Texas Motor Speedway results
Elliott and the No. 9 team gambled with strategy after Corey Heim wrecked and brought out the caution. The Hendrick Motorsports driver had the lead at the time of caution, but he faced a decision. Should he give up the lead and pit for fresh tires or just try to stay out on old tires for a four-lap shootout?
The team chose to stay out, as did Denny Hamlin in second place. Chris Buescher, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez, Riley Herbst, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, and Austin Dillon all joined them by gambling on old tires.
CHASE ELLIOTT WINS AT TEXAS! pic.twitter.com/zgZoyk4Re8
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 3, 2026
Elliott and Hamlin lined up on the front row with Bowman and Buescher behind them. Once they took the green flag, Elliott cleared for the lead with Bowman pushing him. From that point on, Elliott just needed to manage the lanes and keep the field behind him.
The 2020 Cup Series champion did just that. He maintained the gap over Hamlin in second as the laps clicked down. He took the white flag as Kyle Busch wrecked John Hunter Nemechek, but the race remained green. Elliott led the way to the checkered flag at Texas Motor Speedway, and he scored his 23rd career Cup Series win.
This marked his second win of the season and the first time in his career that he had won multiple races by early May.
"I wasn't really sure whether to go top or bottom," he added. "You know, the bottom had been winning out on a lot of the restarts. I felt like, man, if I didn't get clear off of (Turn) 2, I was going to be in a lot of trouble.
"Fortunately Alex gave me a great push. Was able to execute Turns 1 and 2, get clear, and then just kind of manage the last few laps. So it worked out really good, but just, man, it was really cool to get a win as early as we did at Martinsville, and now to have two this early in the year is really special."
