4 Takeaways From Chase Elliott's Victory At Texas

[ad_1] Texas Motor Speedway (Fort Price, Texas) — Chase Elliott isn’t all the time identified for being a driver who is ready to win early within the season. However he’s making 2026 a yr when he is capitalizing on alternatives.

Elliott earned his second win of 2026. This season, he has notched two victories within the first 11 races, six races sooner than he has ever completed in his earlier 11 seasons.

"I am happy with our group for that as a result of anytime you possibly can examine off new bins on this sport once you've been doing it for 10-plus years is cool. It is arduous to do," Elliott stated in his post-race information convention.

"It is arduous to win. So I am actually happy with our group for that and simply happy with the day that we had. It was one in every of our strongest races that we have had in fairly a while."

Listed below are my takeaways:

1. Chase Elliott A Menace

Whereas Tyler Reddick has been the speak of the season with 5 wins, Chase Elliott incomes two already has him third within the standings.

With the group nonetheless determining the brand new Chevrolet physique, they could have essentially the most potential for development.

"We simply really feel just like the Toyotas got here into the season actually scorching, they usually did some nice work over the offseason," four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon stated in his post-race information convention as Hendrick Motorsports Vice Chairman.

"I need to give them credit score. We had a number of change-over with the brand new automotive. We're looking out and discovering what is going on to work. And a few tracks, it really works good. Some tracks it would not."

Chase Elliott obtained into Victory Lane on the Würth 400.

2. Wrecks Stymie Contenders

Contact on pit street foiled a possible race-winning day for Chase Briscoe and Joey Logano, whereas contact on the observe foiled potential race-winning days for Christopher Bell and Ty Gibbs.

Bell was main when he obtained clipped by spinning Todd Gilliland. Briscoe was within the high 5 when he had contact with Kyle Larson on pit street. In one other weird pit-road incident, Joey Logano bumped into Cole Custer, who had stopped in entrance of Logano to let Ty Gibbs out of his pit.

Gibbs was quickly within the storage after slapping the wall from obvious contact with Ryan Preece. Gibbs informed me he didn’t know what occurred.

The frequent theme with all of the drivers right here? All of them aside from Gibbs are nonetheless on the lookout for their first win this season. For Bell, he is aware of he had a race-winning automotive.

"I assumed that I might shoot the hole on the underside, and I assumed I did shoot the hole on the underside, and I obtained clipped," he informed me and different reporters after the accident.

3. Busch-Nemechek Tangle At Finish

Kyle Busch and John Hunter Nemechek tangled on the finish of the race with them having contact up by the wall when battling for place after which Busch door slamming Nemechek, sending Nemechek into the wall.

They each took to social media, with Nemechek indicating that Busch wasn’t clear to drag the preliminary transfer and Busch indicating that Nemechek had sufficient room to maneuver up and for them to not have contact.

NASCAR, because it all the time does with any on-track incident, will overview it to find out if any penalties are warranted.

4. Bowman Again-To-Again Thirds

Alex Bowman, who missed 4 races due to vertigo earlier this yr, has posted back-to-back third-place finishes.

That they got here on the high-speed Talladega and Texas tracks ought to give him confidence as he continues to rally from the damage.

"We're undoubtedly headed in the best path," Bowman stated in his FS1 interview after the race.

4 1/2. What’s Subsequent: Watkins Glen

The Cup Sequence heads to Watkins Glen for a uncommon journey within the spring quite than the summer season. The Mom’s Day weekend race will characteristic all three nationwide collection.