Elliott Outduels Hamlin in Double-Overtime Sprint to Win Würth 400

Würth 400 — Sunday, May 3, 2026 · Texas Motor Speedway · 334 laps, 501 miles

Two laps to go. Three Hendrick Chevrolets in the top 10. The race was Chase Elliott's to lose.

Driving the No. 9 Prime Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Elliott pulled away from Denny Hamlin coming off Turn 4 on the final restart of a double-overtime shootout, beat the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota cleanly through Turn 1, and held the lead through the closing two laps to win the Würth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway. Elliott led a race-high 87 laps, won Stage 2, and joined the short list of drivers with multiple wins at the 1.5-mile track. Hendrick teammate Alex Bowman finished P3 from a P9 start — the No. 48 quietly working into the top 5 all afternoon — capping a Hendrick 1-3 day on a track where the chassis package looked unbeatable on long-run pace.

Pole-sitter Carson Hocevar (No. 77 Spire Motorsports) led the field to green and ran the high line through the opening 80-lap stage, holding off Hamlin in a back-and-forth that established the No. 77 as the early class of the field. Hocevar led 40 laps in the opening stage and finished Stage 1 second behind Erik Jones — a quiet stage-winning run for the No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota from a P21 start.

Stage 2 belonged to Elliott. The No. 9 worked through traffic from a P14 start, took the lead late in the second stage, and won the segment outright. Brent Heim's No. 35 23XI Racing entry led 69 laps in his first start at Texas — an impressive showing that ended early when contact with the wall brought out the final caution and set up the overtime restart that defined the finish.

The double overtime created chaos. Hocevar lost the lead off pit road during the cycle. Hamlin emerged second, Elliott third, with Bowman lurking. On the final restart with two laps to go, Elliott's launch on the bottom lane separated him from Hamlin enough to clear off Turn 2, and the No. 9 held the lead through the final two laps as the No. 11 ran out of room behind him. Bowman picked off P3 in the closing lap to complete the Hendrick 1-3.

Hendrick's intermediate package is the field's problem to solve

Elliott P1, Bowman P3, Byron P8 — three of the top eight finishers in HMS Chevrolets. Elliott's #9 looked unbeatable on the 60+ lap green-flag runs, controlled the bottom lane on every restart, and won the long-run tire wear battle every time. Combined with last week's Cup-equivalent dominance from Larson at Texas O'Reilly, the Hendrick chassis package at 1.5-mile intermediates is the field's #1 problem heading into the spring stretch.

Hocevar quietly had the day's strongest car

Hocevar took the pole, won Stage 1's pace battle (P2 finish to Erik Jones' P1), and led 40 laps before fading to P7 after the late restart. That's the third straight race the No. 77 Spire entry has been a top-10 contender. The car was fast all day; the late-race shuffle on the overtime restarts cost a podium that was very much there for the taking.

The double overtime created the day's biggest mover

Bubba Wallace started P37 (engine change moved him to the back) and finished P9 — a +28 position swing that was the day's strongest recovery story. The double-overtime restart was the moment: with the field bunched up and tire-cycle differences erased, Wallace's mid-pack tire strategy became the dominant strategy. Lesson for next race week: when there's a chance of late cautions at intermediates, mid-pack place-diff plays become the highest-leverage GPP picks.

Big Winners (FJ scoring)

• #9 Chase Elliott — $13, 66.7 FJ points (P1 + 87 laps led + Stage 2 win + +13 place differential). Highest single-driver FJ score on the slate.
• #11 Denny Hamlin — $15, 51.1 FJ points (P2 + 21 laps led). Solid anchor; in our recommendation lineup.
• #77 Carson Hocevar — $12, 50 FJ points (P7 from pole + 40 laps led + Stage 1 P2). The model faded him; the field rewarded him. Best value pick of the slate at 4.17 fj_pts/$.
• #45 Tyler Reddick — $14, 48 FJ points (P4 + Stage 2 P2). Quiet top-5 from the model's #4 projection.
• #48 Alex Bowman — $9, 41 FJ points (P3 from P9). At 7% DK ownership, he was the GPP-winning leverage piece for any lineup that found him.

Disappointments

• #5 Kyle Larson — $15, 7 FJ points (P34 from P11). The top-tier salary pick that defined the day's losing lineups.
• #20 Christopher Bell — $14, 5.2 FJ points (P38 from P7). Crashed early, never recovered.
• #35 Corey Heim — $10, 16.9 FJ points (P31 from P17 despite leading 69 laps). Brought out the caution that triggered the overtime; finished outside the top 30.

The Cup Series heads to Watkins Glen International next weekend for the Go Bowling at The Glen — a 2.45-mile road course where the dynamics flip completely from the 1.5-mile intermediate package that just produced a Hendrick 1-3. Three signals from Sunday carry over with caveats:

• Hendrick's intermediate dominance doesn't translate at the road course. Larson, Reddick, and Shane van Gisbergen become the headlines at Watkins Glen — pavement-versus-elevation cars, not aero packages.
• Hocevar's #77 Spire car has been fast everywhere this spring, including road courses earlier in the season. He's a top-10 contender week to week regardless of track type.
• Watch the road-course specialists — SVG, Cindric, Bell, and the JR Motorsports drop-ins (Larson, Brandon Jones) all elevate. Salaries will compress as the model recalibrates around a different driver pool.

• Race distance: 334 laps · 501 miles
• Most laps led: Chase Elliott (87)
• Stage 1 winner: #43 Erik Jones (Legacy Motor Club, started P21)
• Stage 2 winner: #9 Chase Elliott
• Pole sitter: #77 Carson Hocevar (Spire Motorsports)
• Margin of victory: ~half a car length on the final restart, double overtime
• Biggest mover: Bubba Wallace (P37 → P9, +28)
• Top-5 by FJ salary finish positions: P2, P34, P10, P13, P5 (Hamlin/Larson/Blaney/Keselowski/Reddick — mean absolute error 11.6, dragged up by the Larson disaster)