New Delhi, March 30: Chase Elliott secured a significant victory for Hendrick Motorsports at Martinsville Speedway, marking the team’s first win of 2026. Elliott took the lead from Ross Chastain during the final restart and successfully fended off a strong challenge from Denny Hamlin, who had dominated much of the race. This win marks Elliott’s 22nd career victory.
In the race’s final standings, Joey Logano finished third, followed by Ty Gibbs in fourth and William Byron in fifth. The top ten was rounded out by Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson, and Josh Berry. Shane van Gisbergen continued to impress, scoring points in both stages and finishing 11th after qualifying in the top five.
Stage 1
Hamlin started strong from pole position in a clean opening stage. He briefly lost the lead to Byron when he got stuck behind a slower car, but quickly regained control. Hamlin lapped up to Justin Allgaier in 23rd place before the first caution was called. Just three laps before the stage ended, Cody Ware spun out, causing a caution. Hamlin won Stage 1, followed by Byron, Berry, Gibbs, Cindric, Van Gisbergen, Logano, Blaney, Reddick, and Preece.
Stage 2
During the stage break, Kyle Busch had a mishap with a tire, leading to an uncontrolled tire penalty for his team. On the restart, Gibbs moved into second behind Hamlin. Buescher had to make an unscheduled pit stop, and Gragson spun out, causing a stack-up. Hamlin led the rest of the stage without any major incidents, winning Stage 2 over Gibbs, Logano, Blaney, Byron, Cindric, Reddick, Van Gisbergen, Larson, and Berry.
Stage 3
Hamlin maintained his lead as Blaney moved into second. With about 140 laps remaining, Elliott and Van Gisbergen were the first top-ten cars to make green flag pit stops. Hamlin pitted from the lead with around 110 laps to go, allowing Elliott and Van Gisbergen to cycle to the front. However, Hamlin quickly reclaimed the lead on fresher tires.
A caution was called when Ty Dillon experienced issues, leading to a strategy shift for Elliott and Van Gisbergen. Chastain, who did not pit, took the lead with older tires for the restart with 78 laps remaining. Chastain had a strong restart, but a multi-car wreck soon followed, involving Wallace and Hocevar.
As the race resumed with 69 laps to go, Elliott passed Chastain on the outside. Despite Hamlin’s attempts to close the gap, he could not catch Elliott, who maintained his lead until the end. Chastain’s gamble ultimately saw him finish 16th, but it was still an improvement from his earlier position.
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