By HOLLY CAIN
NASCAR Wire Service

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (March 29, 2026) – Good pit strategy and a highly-motivated team rallied Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott to the NASCAR Cup Series victory Sunday in the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville (Va) Speedway; the sport’s reigning Most Popular Driver delivering Chevrolet its first win of the season all to the delight of a huge enthusiastic crowd at the historic half-miler.

Elliott short-pitted on lap 261 to gain track position then moved his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet into the lead for good after a restart with 68 laps remaining – ultimately out-running the day’s most dominant driver, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin to the checkered flag by .565-second to extend the Hendrick team’s track record win total to 31 victories.

“It was definitely a team effort, how about that, that was awesome,’’ said Elliott, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion, who made his very first NASCAR Cup Series start at Martinsville exactly 11 years ago to the day.

“We’ve never had a win this early in the season. Just a really great team effort. So proud of [crew chief] Alan [Gustafson] the crew really did a great job. We took a gamble and were going to two-stop that last stage and honestly believe it was going to work out either way.

“Just so proud. Sure is a lot of fun when days like this work out.’’

Elliott, 30, of Dawsonville, Ga., said he had been confident in the car’s speed all weekend and on Sunday, just needed that clutch pit call to get up front and seize the chance.

“This whole deal is really weird the way it works,’’ said Elliott, who now has 22 career wins. “Fortunately got that lead on the last one [restart] and fell into a good pace. Just had enough.

“Probably needed a little bit to be just the absolute best out-right but we were really close and were able to manage and save enough to get through traffic at the end.

“But man, it’s really cool when this stuff works out. To win these races is just so tough. Really grateful for the opportunity as always. I never take it for granted.’’

Hamlin’s No. 11 JGR Toyota led a race-best 292 of the 400 laps and for much of the afternoon looked to absolutely run away with his seventh grandfather clock trophy. But after Elliott got out front, Hamlin was playing catch-up and never really was able to get close enough to attempt a pass in the closing laps as the leaders navigated lapped traffic.

“He did a good job controlling the pace there,’’ said Hamlin, who won both stages and was actually leading by three-seconds at the point Elliott made that all-important short pit stop to get up to the front.

“Just really came from that bad restart – just not much more that I could have done there. I felt like we gave it our all.”

This year’s Las Vegas winner, Hamlin said he was also concerned in the final laps that perhaps the car had a loose wheel on the final run, but said either way, “there are some races that get away from you in your career and this was certainly one of them.’’

Team Penske’s Joey Logano rebounded from a rough 33rd-place outing last week at Darlington, S.C. to finish third Sunday – equaling his best showing of the season in the No. 22 Ford.

“Weekends like last weekend you start to question everything, you have to right, as a competitor you have to do that, but nice to have a good rebound, solid car,’’ the three-time series champion Logano said. “Our car honestly, if we were able to get to the lead, I don’t know that the nine-car [Elliott] was any better than us, he just got the clean air at the right time. Proud of this team.’’

Fourth place finisher Ty Gibbs earned his fifth consecutive top-six of the season in the No. 54 JGR Toyota, and fourth top-five in the last five races. It marks his first top-10 at Martinsville.

Hendrick Motorsports William Byron – a three-time Martinsville winner – was fifth after leading six laps in the No. 24 Chevrolet. Penske’s Ryan Blaney, JGR’s Christopher Bell, Penske’s Austin Cindric, Hendrick’s Kyle Larson and Wood Brothers’ Josh Berry rounded out the top-10.

The season’s four-time race winner Tyler Reddick finished 15th but still holds a massive 82-point advantage over Blaney and is 94 points ahead of Hamlin atop the NASCAR Cup Series standings. Reddick’s 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace, who finished 36th after triggering a 12-car accident on lap 325, dropped from third place to 11th in the standings.

The NASCAR Cup Series takes the first of the season’s two off-weeks next weekend before resuming competition April 12 in the Food City 500 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Larson is the defending Bristol Spring race winner.

Martinsville Cup Results

NASCAR Cup Drivers Points

By Holly Cain
NASCAR Wire Service

MARTINSVILLE, VA. (March 29, 2026) – Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin claimed the 49th Busch Light Pole Position of his career Saturday afternoon, claiming the number one starting spot for Sunday’s Cook Out 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Martinsville Speedway – a track where he has long established himself as one of the best.

Hamlin’s JGR No. 11 Toyota turned a lap of 98.241 mph around the half-mile Martinsville oval – .056-second faster than another one of the track’s recent best performers, William Byron in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. They will lead the field to green on Sunday. Hamlin is racing for his second victory of the season and Byron hoping to put a Chevrolet in victory lane for the first time in 2026.

“I knew it was possible simply from where my car was in practice,’’ said Hamlin who now has five career Martinsville pole awards. “Any time you’ve got fast lap speed in practice here that’s in the top-12, you’re close enough there that qualifying trim doesn’t change your car that much.”

“You’ve got enough speed to where you nail it and do a good enough job as a driver you’ve got a chance at the pole, so I knew it was very possible but truthfully I approached the lap to get in the top eight. I think I’d go faster if I went and did it again right now, but I think I’ll go on and stand on my time,’’ he added with a smile.

Hamlin now ties Bobby Issac for the 10th most pole awards in the series history, a mark that genuinely seemed to surprise Hamlin who answered questions about it with an immediate and competitive response, “who has the next most on the list?’’ he was told Ryan Newman has 51.

“I never really go into any weekend thinking about qualifying on pole, it’s really kind of a sidebar to how my Saturday goes,’’ Hamlin said. “It’s pretty awesome, and really, with age, the hardest part is actually still having a fast time. It’s one thing to be able to manage races and use your experience to your advantage. But usually, the first thing to go is your raw speed and we’re still knocking off poles, which is really good.’’

Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry was third quickest in the No. 21 Ford and will share the second row with Hamlin’s JGR teammate Ty Gibbs in the No. 54 Toyota.

Trackhouse Racing’s Shane Van Gisbergen turned an impressive oval qualifying effort with a fifth place showing in the No. 97 Chevrolet.

Austin Cindric, Carson Hocevar, championship leader Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano and Chase Elliott round out the top-10 in the starting grid.

By Holly Cain
NASCAR Wire Service

Tyler Reddick’s heater heads for a tight turn at Martinsville

MARTINSVILLE, VA. – Scoring his fourth victory in the season’s sixth race last weekend at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick continues to set the [fast] pace for the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series championship.

The Cook Out 400 (Sunday, March 29 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at the half-mile Martinsville (Va.) Speedway looms large as the first short track test to see which team – or manufacturer – can keep Reddick honest.

Thanks to his incredible early-season work, the 30-year-old Californian now leads Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney by an incredible 95 points in the standings. Reddick’s teammate Bubba Wallace, their 23XI Racing team co-owner, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin and Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott round out the top-five in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings.

“You could say three of the four wins we’ve had to fight through some level of adversity, whether it’s issues with the car, getting caught up in an accident, or having to hold off the field basically like in COTA,” Reddick said Sunday after his Darlington victory.

“For us to be put through these things, that in my opinion kept us from winning a year ago, to fight through these things, and then still win is very remarkable. It’s very fulfilling. It’s the stuff that, you know, you just got to kind of take a step back and say, ‘wow, that was incredible.’

“Yeah, I’m definitely in that place right now. Just really proud of my team.”

Fellow Toyota driver Hamlin won at Las Vegas two weeks ago giving the make five wins in six races and with a phenomenal track record at the Martinsville “paper clip” Hamlin – and Toyota – are absolutely favorites again this weekend. Five times at Martinsville – including his win in this race last Spring – Hamlin has led more than 200 laps. Martinsville is Hamlin’s best track statistically in top fives (21), top 10s (27), laps led (2722) and stage wins (eight).

In recent years, however, Martinsville has shown exceptional parity among NASCAR’s three makes. The last three races have been won by Ford (Ryan Blaney, November 2024), Toyota (Hamlin, Spring, 2025) and Chevrolet (William Byron, Fall, 2025). Going back to the last eight races – there have been four Chevrolet winners, two Toyota winners and two Ford winners. And Blaney, Byron and Hamlin have claimed six of those seven historic Martinsville grandfather clock trophies.

As good as Toyota has been, it’s been a rare dry spell for Chevrolet. It’s been since 2019 that a Hendrick Motorsports driver did not win a race through the opening six races on the schedule.

Byron, however, not only won from pole position last Fall at Martinsville but the driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has proven to be the class of the Next Gen competition at the short track. He’s won three of the last eight races there and his 664 laps led are most for him at any track and second only to Hamlin (735 laps) at Martinsville in that time period. Byron has won two of the last four short track races coming into the weekend.

His Hendrick Motorsports teammate, reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson has finished sixth or better in the last seven Martinsville races, winning in 2023.

Ford’s Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano must certainly be considered contenders this week as well based on their track records. Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford owns a pair of Martinsville grandfather clocks and boasts the best average finish (4.25) in the Next Gen Era. Logano’s 13-race top-10 streak in the Penske No. 22 Ford at Martinsville is best in the series.

It is worth noting, that two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch has now gone 99 races without a victory – the longest such mark of his career. He is a two-time Martinsville winner, visiting Victory Lane in back-to-back seasons 2016-17. Since a runner-up finish in 2021, however, Busch has only a single top-10 (seventh in 2022) and hasn’t led a lap since 2020. Last season he was 17th and 13th in the two races.

NCS Practice & Busch Light Pole Qualifying will air live Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET (Prime, MRN and SiriusXM). JGR’s Christopher Bell is the defending polesitter. Byron won last year’s Fall race from pole position but the last time the polesitter won in the Spring was 2013 – NASCAR Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson.

Short Track, Big Drama: O’Reilly Auto Parts Series is back at Martinsville

The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series resumes competition Saturday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway with the NFPA 250 (3:30 p.m. ET on CW, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill is the defending race winner, leading only the last lap of overtime to claim the win last Spring after that day’s most dominant driver – now a NASCAR Cup Series rookie – Connor Zilisch spun on the last regularly-scheduled lap resulting in an overtime restart. Zilisch had started from pole position and led 100 of the opening 250 laps.

Taylor Gray’s 87 laps out front were second to Zilisch, and the 21-year-old Gray answered that production later in the year scoring his first series victory the following October race at Martinsville.

Three other championship contenders own Martinsville clocks, including last week’s Darlington winner, JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier (2023), Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brandon Jones (2022) and Sam Hunt Racing’s Harrison Burton (2020).

The 2024 series champion Allgaier holds a 52-point edge over last year’s champ, Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love atop the standings. JR Motorsports’ Carson Kvapil (-84), Haas Factory Team’s Sheldon Creed (-88) and Love’s teammate Hill (-96) round out the top-five atop the standings.

JR Motorsports has won the last four races (with three different drivers) and a victory Saturday would mark the second longest streak of wins for a team in series history. Joe Gibbs Racing won six consecutively in 2008.

NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Practice & Kennametal Pole Qualifying at Martinsville is scheduled for Friday at 4:30 p.m. ET (CW App). The last time a polesitter won this race was 1987 (Jimmy Hensley).