The only two men who could beat a dominant Denny Hamlin at Martinsville Speedway in Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway were Chase Elliott and Alan Gustafson.
Elliott held off Hamlin over the race’s final green flag run after Gustafson made a surprising call to bring Elliott down pit road with 139 laps to go after Elliott reported that he was struggling with handling.
A pair of well-timed cautions kept Elliott up front after he had used his fresh tires to drive to the lead, and despite Hamlin’s consistent speed, the latter was unable to get to the former.
The victory is the 22nd of Elliott’s Cup Series career and the first for Hendrick Motorsports in 2026.
“Definitely a team effort, that was awesome,” Elliot told Fox Sports. “We took a gamble. We were gonna two-stop that stage. I honestly think it was going to work out for us either way.”
Hamlin led 292 of 400 laps to Elliott’s 84, but couldn’t make his way through lapped traffic as efficiently in the closing laps and get close enough to use the bumper.
“[Chase Elliott] did a good job to control the pace there,” Hamlin said. “Just not much really I could’ve done there. Feel like we have it our all.”
Hamlin added that he thought he had a loose wheel over the race’s final run.
Notable results
Hamlin, Joey Logano, Ty Gibbs and William Byron rounded out the top five, with Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson and Josh Berry completing the top 10.
Other notable finishers include Shane van Gisbergen in 11th, Brad Keselowski in 13th in his 600th start, Carson Hocevar in 17th, Kyle Busch in 24th and Bubba Wallace in 36th.
Tyler Reddick, who finished 15th, leads the Cup Series standings by 82 points over Blaney through seven races.