Denny Hamlin’s late pit sequence led to an fascinating victory for Chase Elliott on the just lately concluded race at Martinsville. Whereas Elliott, the Hendrick Motorsports driver, was ecstatic after profitable the race, it was the other for Hamlin, who dominated a lot of the race. Nevertheless, a big gamble in direction of the top value him a historic 62nd Cup Collection win.
Hamlin reveals how he misplaced to Elliott
Within the latest , Hamlin touched upon the moments the place he misplaced the momentum of the race. Regardless of main a lot of the race, the JGR star needed to stay proud of a runner-up place, and the explanation?
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“I observed when the #1 stayed out, I used to be like, I’ll have the ability to get round. I’m getting round them,” Hamlin stated. “However I’m now beginning on the surface lane. I hadn’t began there all day. I’m going to have to make use of my tires up just a little bit extra on the beginning of this run than I had been in restarts previous. However I feel had my automobile been 100% on that final run, we nonetheless would have received the race.”
Following this, the #11 driver revealed how a free wheel pushed him to go for a late pit cease, leading to him dropping out on monitor place, one thing from which he by no means recovered.
“Sadly, we did have a free wheel, and that takes sufficient grip out of the rear that in case you don’t have in case your tires aren’t monitoring proper, you actually have lots much less rear grip than what you’ve got had beforehand. So the truth that we had been in a position to simply proceed, I imply, it’s only a testomony to how briskly we had been and how briskly our automobile was to have the ability to dangle on there with that free wheel. I feel that was the defining second.”
DAYTONA BEACH, FL – FEBRUARY 13: Denny Hamlin, 1,1 Joe Gibbs Racing Nationwide Debt Aid Toyota races into flip 4 throughout apply for the NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Cup Collection Daytona 500 on February 13, 20,26 at Daytona Worldwide Speedway in Daytona Seashore, FL.
Elliott capitalized on ‘s gamble, held his nerve, and received the race by a 0.565 margin. With this, Hamlin misplaced the race regardless of main 292 out of 400 laps.
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Joey Logano, Ty Gibbs, and William Byron wrapped up the highest 5, but it surely was a , who bagged their first win of the yr.
Chase Elliott celebrates first HMS win in 2026
With the Martinsville victory, handed Hendrick Motorsports its first win of the season. Provided that HMS is the defending house owners’ champion, the win provides them a much-needed impetus going into the season.
“Man, that is superior,” Elliott stated after the victory. “Actually cool and going into an off-week too, which suggests we get to take pleasure in it for 2 weeks, not one. It’s the little issues, man. You type of be taught to take pleasure in that stuff. … I do know we nonetheless have a whole lot of room for enchancment, don’t get me fallacious, however nice option to type of cap off this primary stretch [of races]. Plenty of good momentum for the entire group, actually, I feel.”
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The 2026 Cup season has been a complete Toyota affair. 5 out of seven wins had been claimed by Toyota drivers, as Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott spearheaded the one Ford and Chevrolet wins. Now that Elliott has received a race for Chevy, it will likely be fascinating to see if they’ll capitalize on it from right here on.
