FORT WORTH, Texas — Texas Motor Speedway delivered a race filled with comers and goers, strategy calls, and late-race drama.
Carson Hocevar, fresh off a win the previous week, jumped out to an early lead before being overtaken by the Joe Gibbs Racing cars. Following the first round of pit stops, Denny Hamlin cycled to the front, but Christopher Bell quickly challenged and took the lead.
Bell’s strong run came to an abrupt end when Todd Gilliland spun and made contact with him, ending Bell’s day. That opened the door for Erik Jones to stay out and capture the Stage 1 win.
Trouble continued on pit road, where Kyle Larson made contact with Chase Briscoe, while Joey Logano and Cole Custer were also involved in an incident that ultimately ended Logano’s race.
The race featured multiple lead changes and varying strategies. Part-time driver Corey Heim led laps in Stage 2 before pitting, allowing Chase Elliott to secure the stage victory.
Single-car spins were frequent throughout the event, including incidents involving Larson, Ty Gibbs, William Byron, Heim, and John Hunter Nemechek. While many of these spins were attributed to the bumps in Turns 3 and 4, there were also on-track incidents, including contact from Ryan Preece that sent Gibbs around, and a last-lap spin involving Kyle Busch and Nemechek.
In the closing laps, Elliott proved to be the class of the field. He held off Hamlin on the final restart to earn his second win of the season and his second victory at Texas in the last three races.
Next, the series heads to Watkins Glen International for its second road course race of the season. Expect road course specialists like Shane van Gisbergen and rookie Connor Zilisch to be among the drivers to watch.
