By Matt Crider, Staff Writer
FORT WORTH, Texas — In charge since winning Stage 2 in a one-lap shootout, Chase Elliott faced another sprint to the finish and a corresponding decision at the end of the Wurth 400.
Elliott and seven other drivers elected to not make pit stops during the final caution period, and Elliott held on over four laps to secure his second win at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday.
“I knew we were staying. I had a pretty good feeling [Denny Hamlin] was staying. I thought staying out was the play,” Elliott said. “I said all right, here we go. I’m going to do the best I can to execute this restart and try and get a good launch and get through [Turns] 1 and 2 the best I can and put together the best four laps I’ve run all day and hope for the best.”
Elliott and Hamlin were leading the pack when Corey Heim crashed in Turn 4 with 11 laps remaining. Third-place Tyler Reddick was the first driver to take pit road. Reddick took on two new tires, and the eight drivers who stayed out filled the first four rows for the restart. Reddick restarted alongside Daniel Suarez and looked to cut through the field.
After one lap, Reddick was up to fifth place. But the No. 45 Toyota, winner of five of 11 NASCAR Cup Series races on the season, had its advance stifled while trying to pass Chris Buescher, and Reddick settled for a fourth-place finish behind Elliott, Hamlin and Alex Bowman.
“It was nice to go for it there with two tires. Just had a couple passes that took a little longer than they needed to, and that was the difference,” Reddick said. “I don’t know if we would’ve got back to the lead, but I think if we played it perfectly we could’ve got second. All in all, it was a good day.”
Buescher, from nearby Prosper, finished fifth, securing his first top-13 finish at his home track over 17 starts. The top 10 was completed by Suarez, pole winner Carson Hocevar, William Byron, Bubba Wallace and Ryan Blaney.
The only drivers who stopped during the final caution to infiltrate the top eight were Reddick, Suarez and Hocevar.
“It’s tough because ultimately the decision being right or wrong is very dependent on what your competitors do,” Elliott crew chief Alan Gustafson said. “In this situation it was a little easier just because we had gotten so close to the end of the race and track position is such a huge deal here.”
Several contenders were eliminated or otherwise hampered during the 267-lap contest on the 1 1/2-mile oval.
On Lap 68, Christopher Bell was leading and under fire from teammate Hamlin when Todd Gilliland spun in front of them. Gilliland kept his car off the wall but slid down the track and clipped Bell in the right rear flank, knocking the No. 20 Toyota out of the field.
During Stage 2, Byron spun — narrowly missing defending race winner Joey Logano — and brought out the caution flag. During the ensuing pit stops, Logano ran into a slowing Cole Custer, sending both cars to the garage. Chase Briscoe collided with Kyle Larson leaving his box in a minor incident, and Hamlin bumped Connor Zilisch.
Larson later crashed in Turn 2 of Lap 160, five laps before the end of the stage.
“This track just keeps getting a little bit better,” Hamlin said. “The PJ1 [traction compound], the higher you go the more there is, because we’re venturing up into lanes where we haven’t been for 10 years. This is just a really fast, aerodynamic-type track, so when you get the lead you can really have a big advantage, but the racing does continue to get a little better here each time.”
Elliott earned his second win of the season and his second at TMS. He drove the No. 9 Chevrolet to victory a little over a month ago at Martinsville, again with Hamlin as runner-up, and Elliott won in Fort Worth in the spring of 2024.
Elliott has 23 career victories and had never posted multiple wins this quickly.
The Hendrick Motorsports star led four times Sunday for a race-high 87 laps. Part-timer Heim led 69 circuits and Hocevar paced 40. Erik Jones won Stage 1 and finished 12th.
Elliott moved ahead of Blaney for third in the standings and is just eight points behind Hamlin, while Reddick enjoys a 109-point gap over the field.
TMS officials announced during the race that the event boasted a sellout crowd.
“Alan came on the radio and said ‘two-time Texas winner.’ I’ll be damned, I’d have never thought,” Elliott said. “I’ve trashed this place for years, and I just didn’t like what they did to the racetrack in reconfiguring Turns 1 and 2.
“But when you run better, it grows on you a little here and there, and I think the fan reception over the last couple of years has been really strong. I think the energy has been really good out here having one race and whatnot.”