NASCAR fan favorite once ‘trashed’ Texas track, and now he won twice in 3 years
Chase Elliott won the NASCAR Cup Series WÜRTH 400 on Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway for his second win of the season.
Elliott, voted NASCAR’s most popular driver for eight years in a row, led for 87 laps during the race after starting at in the No. 14 position.
Denny Hamlin was second, followed by Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick and Prosper native Chris Buescher.
Elliott admitted while talking with Fox Sports after the race that he wasn't a fan of Texas Motor Speedway but was happy getting his second win of the season and his second at TMS after winning the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 in 2024.
“I have not been a huge fan of this place, and I made that very, very obvious,” Elliott said. “But to continue to work hard, and I really think, you know, this is a testament to the whole [No. 9] team, but not just the 9 team, but also everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. Because, you know, we’ve not been where we wanted to be throughout portions of this season, and everybody’s just been digging in really hard.
“Just crazy 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.”
Elliott said it was the track’s reconfiguration that made him less of a fan.
Crew chief Alan Gustafson “came on the radio and said two-time Texas winner. I thought, I’ll be damned,’” Elliott said. “I’ve trashed this place for years, and I just, I didn’t like what they did to the racetrack in reconfiguring turns one and two. It was so fun for me, and obviously there’s some selfish opinion in that too, because I thought it was a really strong track, and then it turned into not a strong track at all. And those things combined, I think just kind of put a bad taste in my mouth.”
Despite his issues with some of the changes, Elliott was complimentary of the atmosphere at TMS.
“Certainly when you run better, it grows on you a little here and there, and I think that the fan reception over the last couple of years has been really strong,” he said. “I think the energy’s been really good out here, having one race and whatnot, and, for as hard of a time as I’ve given it, for some reason, it likes me, and it loved me back. And I didn’t like it, but it liked me, and so I’m learning to come around a little bit, but I wish it would share some of that love with some other tracks on the schedule that I want to like.
“I think that the crowd reception today — and it ended up being a good race — all those things I think help make my opinion better, and enjoy coming out here. And I hope that everybody had a good time, because it seemed like it was a good race, got a late caution and all the excitement that you go for when you watch a race from home or in person. So appreciate all the folks making it fun to me.”
With eight laps to go, Elliot led the way, followed by Hamlin and Reddick. Elliott, the 2020 Cup Series champion, explained how he kept the lead out of a late caution.
“I wasn’t really sure whether to go top or bottom, and the bottom had been winning out on a lot of the restarts,” he said. “I just felt like, man, if I didn’t get clear off the two, I was going to be a lot of trouble. So fortunately, Alex gave me a great push. Was able to execute turns one and two, get clear and then just kind of manage the last few laps, so it worked out really good.”
Elliott praised his pit crew for their performance, calling them essential to his victory.
“They were phenomenal,” he said. “But the thing of it is they’ve been really good for years. The truth of the matter is, I haven’t done a good enough job to put them in a position to have their talents on display all the time.”
Corey Heim, driving for NBA legend Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing team, led for 69 laps, the second-most out of any driver, but spun out with 10 laps left.
The next NASCAR Cup Series race will be Go Bowling at The Glen on May 10 at Watkins Glen International in New York.
This story was originally published May 3, 2026 at 5:43 PM.
