Pit strategy call delivers Chase Elliott popular victory at Martinsville: Good pit strategy and a highly-motivated team rallied Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott to the NASCAR Cup Series victory Sunday in the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville (Va) Speedway; the sport’s reigning Most Popular Driver delivering Chevrolet its first win of the season all to the delight of a huge enthusiastic crowd at the historic half-miler.[Read More]
#9-Chase Elliott won the Cook Out 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway. The win is his first win of the year, second at Martinsville and 22nd career win.
Pole sitter #11-Denny Hamlin finished 2nd followed by #22-Joey Logano, #54-ty Gibbs, #24-William Byron, #12-Ryan Blaney, #20-Christoopher Bell, #2-Austin Cindric, #5-Kyle Larson, and #21-Josh Berry.
Hamlin dominated the first 300 laps of the race, leading 292 laps on the day, but Elliott short pitted on lap 261 and stayed near the front of the field when the caution came out on lap 312. Elliott retook the lead with 67 laps remaining and held it the remainder of the race.
Stages 1 and 2 were both won by #11-Denny Hamlin.
The fastest lap bonus a earned by #11-Denny Hamlin.
There were 8 lead changes among 6 drivers and 5 cautions for 54 yellow flag laps.
The average speed of the race was: 75.457mph.
See race details at: Race Results, Driver Points Standings, Owner Points Standings, Cumulative Report, Infraction Report.
Race Fast Facts – Martinsville:
Chase Elliott won the Cook Out 400, his 22nd victory in 365 Cup Series races.
This is his first victory and fourth top-10 finish in 2026.
This is his second victory and 15th top-10 finish in 22 races at Martinsville Speedway.
Denny Hamlin (second) posted his 28th top-10 finish in 41 races at Martinsville Speedway. It is his fourth top-10 finish in 2026.
Joey Logano (third) posted his 23rd top-10 finish in 35 races at Martinsville Speedway.
Connor Zilisch (26th) was the highest finishing rookie.
Tyler Reddick leads the point standings by 82 points over Ryan Blaney
Driver Points /Chase Standings after Martinsville:
Race 7 of 26 in the regular season:
1) #45-Tyler Reddick, 353, +195
2) #12-Ryan Blaney, 271, +113
3) #11-Denny Hamlin, 259, +101
4) #9-Chase Elliott, 249, +91
5) #24-William Byron, 238, +80
6) #54-Ty Gibbs, 222, +64
7) #20-Christopher Bell, 212, +54
8) #5-Kyle Larson, 206, +48
9) #6-Brad Keselowski, 206, +48
10) #17-Chris Buescher, 206, +48
11) #23-Bubba Wallace, 206, +48
12) #22-Joey Logano, 185, +27
13) #60-Ryan Preece, 180, +22
14) #97-Shane Van Gisbergen, 174, +16
15) #77-Carson Hocevar, 171, +13
16) #7-Daniel Suarez, 167, +9
Outside the top 16:
17) #71-Michael McDowell, 158, -9
18) #2-Austin Cindric, 149, -18
19) #1-Ross Chastain, 136, -31
20) #16-AJ Allmendinger, 134, -33
See the Driver Points Standings and Owner Points Standings.
Race updates:
Checkered flag for Chase Elliott. He wins over Hamlin.
White flag for Elliott.
Lap 398 – Three to go. Elliott ahead of Hamlin by .4 second.
Lap 394 – Elliott’s lead up to .7 second with 7 to go.
Lap 391 – Ten laps remaining. Leaders still in some traffic. Elliott’s lead is steady at .57 second.
Lap 387 – Fourteen to go. Elliott still with a half second lead.
Lap 382 – Logano is now in third, 1.4 seconds off the lead.
Lap 381 – With just 20 laps to go, Elliott continues to lead. Hamlin is hanging with him, .4 second back.
Lap 375 – Leaders are working through traffic and Elliott’s lead is .3 second.
Lap 371 – Thirty laps left. Elliott leads. Hamlin is .5 second back. Logano 2 second off the lead and Gibbs 4.2 seconds back.
Lap 361 – Forty laps remaining: Elliott Hamlin Logano Gibbs Byron Bell Blaney Chastain Larson Cindric the top 10.
Lap 358 – Hamlin has fallen 1.1 second back.
Lap 351 – Hamlin is not currently making any progress on Elliott. He’s still a half second back.
Lap 346 – With 55 laps to go, Elliott leads Hamlin by .55 second. Chastain has fallen 2.2 seconds back.
Lap 339 – Hamlin around Chastain for second. He’s .6 second behind Elliott for the lead.
Lap 338 – Wallace and TDillon done for the day.
Lap 337 – After contact from Hamlin, Blaney has fallen to 7th.
Lap 334 – Elliott takes the lead over Chastain. Hamlin is third.
Lap 332 – Green flag with 69 laps remaining.
Lap 328 – Under caution it’s Chastain Elliott Hamlin Blaney and Gibbs.
Lap 324 – CAUTION out for a big wreck on the frontstretch. Wallace with heavy damage. Hocevar Smith Zilisch Hill and others involved. Wallace started it by getting into Hocevar.
Lap 323 – Green flag with 79 laps remaining. Chastain leads. Hamlin misses a gear on the restart and Elliott sets second.
Lap 321 – Several drivers take the wavearound. There will be 22 drivers on the lead lap.
Lap 317 – Pit road is open. Chastain stays out, rest of the leaders are in. Off pit road: Hamlin Elliott Gibbs Blaney Bell Logano Byron Larson SVG
Lap 312 – CAUTION is out for debris on the track. NASCAR says there is a brake rotor on the track. Suarez will be the free pass.
Lap 310 – Hamlin is back out front with 91 laps remaining.
Lap 307 – Elliott’s lead is down to 1 second over Hamlin.
Lap 301 – TDillon has a tire go down but gets to pit road. No caution.
5:45pm/et – 300 laps complete, 100 remaining. Elapsed race time: 2 hours, 3 minutes, 34 seconds.
Lap 298 – Hamlin to second, now 4 seconds back.
Lap 294 – Berry pits. Elliott now the leader. He pitted early. SVG is second and then Hamlin, 4.3 seconds back.
Lap 293 – Berry now the leader.
Lap 291 – Blaney now pits.
Lap 290 – Hamlin pits from the lead. Blaney now out front.
Lap 289 – Gibbs is pitting.
Lap 285 – Pit stops are picking up throughout the field.
Lap 282 – Reddick, in 16th, loses a lap.
Lap 272 – Hill slows on track but makes it to pit road. No caution.
Lap 270 – SVG pits from the top 10. Still only a few drivers have been on pit road.
Lap 261 – After passing Gibbs, Blaney has not made any progress on Hamlin. Hes 2.5 seconds back now. Some green flag stops are beginning.
Lap 258 – Blaney gets around Gibbs to take second place. He’s 2.1 seconds behind Hamlin.
Lap 251 – 150 laps remaining. Hamlin Gibbs Blaney Cindric Logano Bell Larson Byron Elliott SVG are the top 10. 23 drivers on the lead lap.
Lap 241 – Hamlin’s lead over Gibbs is 1.5 second as he continues to dominate the race.
Lap 221 – Hamlin continues to dominate and Gibbs remains second. Logano has fallen back to 5th, behind Blaney and Cindric.
Lap 201 – Race is halfway complete in 1 hour, 28 minutes, 10 seconds.
Lap 194 – Green flag for the start of the final stage. 207 laps remaining. 24 drivers on the lead lap. Hamlin has led 188 laps so far.
Lap 186 – Pit road open. Leaders all come in. Off pit road: Hamlin Logano Gibbs Blaney Cindric Larson SVG Bell Berry Preece.
Lap 181 – CAUTION for the end of the second stage. Hamlin wins it over Gibbs Logano Blaney Byron Cindric Reddick SVG Larson and Berry. Briscoe is the free pass again.
Lap 176 – Hamlin with a one second lead over Gibbs with five laps remaining in the stage.
Lap 156 – Twenty five laps left in stage 2. Not much movement up front. Hamlin leads Gibbs Logano Cindric and Blaney.
Lap 141 – Hamlin’s lead over Gibbs is 1.3 second.
Lap 126 – Hamlin Gibbs Logano Cindric Byron Blaney Reddick SVG Berry and Wallace are the top 10.
Lap 113 – Back to green. Hamlin still leads over Gibbs.
Lap 107 – Pit road is open. Leaders say out but a few drivers further back come in for service.
Lap 105 – CAUTION for a spin by Gragson. Free pass is Briscoe.
Lap 96 – Green flag for the start of the second stage.
Lap 87 – Pit road is open. Leaders are in. Off pit road: Hamlin Byron Gibbs Cindric Berry Logano SVG Reddick Blaney Elliott. Stenhouse too fast on pit road. Busch with an uncontrolled tire penalty.
Lap 79 – CAUTION is out after a spin by Ware in front of the leaders. That will be the end of stage 1. Hamlin over Byron Berry Gibbs Cindric SVG Logano Blaney Reddick Preece. Allgaier, in 23rd, is the free pass.
Lap 71 – With ten laps remaining in stage 1, Hamlin and Byron still run up front. Berry has fallen to 3.4 seconds back.
Lap 60 – Hamlin’s lead s .35 second over Byron. Third place Berry is 1 second back. Just over 20 laps remaining in stage 1.
Lap 49 – Busch loses a lap.
Lap 46 – Hamlin takes the lead back.
Lap 40 – Byron gets around Hamlin to take the lead. Hamlin was having trouble working through traffic.
Lap 36 – Hamlin is now lapping cars with Ware and Hill already off the lead lap.
Lap 26 – Hamlin with a .65 second lead over Byron. All 37 cars still on the lead lap.
Lap 11 – With 10 laps complete Hamlin still leads over Byron Berry Gibbs Cindric SVG Reddick Logano Hocevar and Bell.
Lap 2 – Hamlin leads the first lap.
• 3:41pm/et – Green flag at Martinsville.
• 3:32pm/et – Engines are fired.
• 3:24pm/et – Pre-race ceremonies are underway.
• 2:25pm/et – Still no cars to the rear today.
• 2:00pm/et – FS1 now has RaceDay coverage
• No drivers reported to the rear for the start of the race, as of Saturday evening.
• Weather looks good fro today’s race. A little cool but no rain. According to the National Weather Service: Sunny, with a high near 61. Light south wind increasing to 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
Cook Out 400
Broadcast: FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 400 laps / 210.4 miles
Stages: 80 / 180 / 400
Average time of race: 2:55:58
Pit road speed: 30 mph
Caution car speed: 35 mph
Fuel Window: 175 laps
Timing (all times local & subject to change)
Invocation: 3:24:20 p.m.
National Anthem: 3:25:00 p.m.
Command: 3:32:00 p.m.
Green Flag: 3:41:00 p.m.
Paint Schemes
Cars to the rear: none reported
Pit Stall Selections: The selections of pit stalls for the Cook Out 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway have been made.
Pole winner #11-Denny Hamlin chose pit stall 1.
Outside pole sitter #24-William Byron took the 30th stall, with an opening in front of it.
See all pit choices on the Martinsville Pit Stall page.
#11-Denny Hamlin won the Busch pole for the Cook Out 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway with a speed of 98.241mph for his first pole of the year, fifth at Martinsville and 49th of his career.
#24-William Byron will start second followed by #21-Josh Berry, #54-Ty Gibbs, #97-Shane van Gisbergen, #2-Austin Cindric, #77-Carson Hocevar, #45-Tyler Reddick, #22-Joey Logano, and #9-Chase Elliott.
See the complete qualifying results and the Cook Out 400 Starting Lineup.
Martinsville – Qualifying Fast Facts:
Denny Hamlin won the Pole Award for the Cook Out 400 with a lap of 19.275 seconds, 98.241 mph.
This is his 49th pole in 728 NASCAR Cup Series races.
This is his first pole and third top-10 start in 2026.
This is his fifth pole in 41 races at Martinsville Speedway.
William Byron (second) posted his fourth top-10 start of 2026 and his seventh in 17 races at Martinsville Speedway.
Josh Berry (third) posted his second top-10 start at Martinsville Speedway. It is his third in seven races this season.
Connor Zilisch (25th) was the fastest qualifying rookie.
Qualifying Order
Practice for the Cook Out 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway is over. The results:
#23-Bubba Wallace 96.195
#54-Ty Gibbs 96.116
#11-Denny Hamlin 95.965
#9-Chase Elliott 95.936
#34-Todd Gilliland 95.931
Slowest: #51-Cody Ware, 94.770mph
Most laps run: #88-Connor Zilisch and #10-Ty Dillon, 70 laps.
Best 10 consecutive lap avg (of 37 drivers): #9-Chase Elliott, 95.393mph
See the fastest speeds, best 10 consecutive lap average, laps run on the Cook Out 400 Practice speeds page.
Crew Rosters
The entry list for the Cook Out 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway is posted, 37 teams/drivers [for 40 spots] are listed.
The only open team is #33-Austin Hill.
See the full entry list on the Cook Out 400 Entry List page.
Statistical Advance: Analyzing the Cook Out 400: A a look at some of the top statistical performers at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia, going into the Cook Out 400
Goodyear Fast Facts — Martinsville: Teams in both the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series will run the same Goodyear Racing Eagle tire setups at Martinsville Speedway this weekend as in last fall’s race at the paperclip-shaped short track. Goodyear introduced a new left-side Cup Series tire at Martinsville in October, designed to deliver more fall-off than its predecessor. That same tire is paired with the right-side tire that has been used at Martinsville since fall 2024.
Race rules and information:
