Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400

May 3Texas Motor Speedway334 Laps

RACE RECAP

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 WΓΌrth 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 β€” the No. 48 quietly working into the top 5 all afternoon β€” 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 β€” 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 β€” 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.

BY THE NUMBERS

23
Lead Changes
11
Leaders
7/40
Cautions / Laps
4
DNFs
.407
Margin of Victory
136.315
Avg MPH
2:56:17
Race Time
Stage Winners
S1Erik Jones
S2Chase Elliott
Caution Breakdown
1L69–746L#20, 34 Incident Turn 4LD #97
2L82–887LStage 1 ConclusionLD #51
3L93–986L#24 Spin Turn 4
4L102–1065L#54, 60 Incident Turn 3LD #66
5L161–1644L#5 Incident Turn 2LD #67
6L167–1726LStage 2 ConclusionLD #38
7L258–2636L#67 Incident Turn 4LD #47

KEY TAKEAWAYS

01Hendrick's intermediate package is the field's problem to solve
02Hocevar's pole-to-P7 should rewrite our model
03The double overtime created the day's biggest mover
04Larson's day was the cautionary tale

VALUE PICKS

8.3
pts/$
Car #35
Riley Herbst$4
P11S2:P8Led:1
6.00
pts/$
Car #97
Shane van Gisbergen$4
P17
5.76
pts/$
Car #43
Erik Jones$7
P12S1:P1Led:13
5.13
pts/$
Car #9
Chase Elliott$13
P1S1:P8S2:P1Led:87FL
5.00
pts/$
Car #47
Ricky Stenhouse Jr$6
P19S1:P3

BUSTS

0.3
pts/$
Car #22
Joey Logano$12
P37
0.37
pts/$
Car #20
Christopher Bell$14
P38Led:22
0.47
pts/$
Car #5
Kyle Larson$15
P34
1.01
pts/$
Car #54
Ty Gibbs$12
P36S1:P4Led:1
1.50
pts/$
Car #1
Ross Chastain$10
P26

PERFECT LINEUP

Optimal 5-driver roster for this race

Salary
$50/50
Avg Finish
P7
Total Points
376.38
GroupDriverSalaryFinishPts
A
Car #9
Chase Elliott
$131
133.40
2 Γ— 66.70
B
Car #77
Carson Hocevar
$127
87.50
1.75 Γ— 50.00
C
Car #45
Tyler Reddick
$144
72.00
1.5 Γ— 48.00
D
Car #43
Erik Jones
$712
50.38
1.25 Γ— 40.30
E
Car #35
Riley Herbst
$411
33.10
1 Γ— 33.10