Samwise NASCAR Cup Series Newsletter
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Chase Elliott Wins Würth 400 at Texas for Second Victory of 2026
Chase Elliott claimed his second Cup Series win of 2026 on Sunday, winning the Würth 400 at Texas Motor Speedway after leading 87 of 267 laps. Elliott, in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, didn’t take the lead until Lap 152 but controlled the race from that point with the team’s three fastest pit stops of the season. He held off Denny Hamlin on a four-lap sprint to the finish, winning by 0.407 seconds with teammate Alex Bowman third. Elliott now has two wins in 11 races—a career first—and sits third in the standings, 117 points behind leader Tyler Reddick.
Sources: NASCAR.com, RACER
Reddick’s 109-Point Lead Has Rare Playoff Consequences This Early in Season
Tyler Reddick’s 109-point advantage over Denny Hamlin in the NASCAR Cup Series standings is drawing attention not just for its size but for its strategic implications under the current playoff seeding system. Reddick finished fourth at Texas while Hamlin ran second, narrowing the gap from 110 to 109 points, but the 23XI Racing Toyota driver has still won five of the season’s first 11 races—a pace without precedent in his career. Analysts note that the top three seeds at the playoff cutoff have produced 69 percent of all simulated champions. Reddick’s lead translates to an approximate 25-point head start entering the September playoff rounds.
Sources: Motorsport.com
Christopher Bell Crashes from Lead in Stage 1, Drops to 13th in Points
Christopher Bell’s strong weekend at Texas ended abruptly in Stage 1 when the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota tangled with Todd Gilliland on Lap 68. Bell had led 22 laps and was running at the front when Gilliland’s spinning No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford crossed Bell’s path at the exit of Turn 4. The contact sent Bell’s Toyota into the outside retaining wall on the frontstretch, causing terminal damage. Bell was credited with last place among 38 starters. The DNF dropped the defending series runner-up from ninth to 13th in the standings, dealing a significant blow to his championship hopes just 11 races into the regular season.
Sources: Motorsport.com, Motorsport.com
Logano’s Pit-Road Collision with Custer Drops Champion Outside Playoff Bubble
Three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano’s title defense suffered a major setback at Texas after a chaotic pit-road incident on Lap 94. Logano, piloting the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, drove into the rear of Cole Custer’s No. 51 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet as Custer attempted to squeeze into his pit box. The collision peeled back the left-front fender of Logano’s Mustang and left the car undriveable. Logano finished 37th, dropping him outside the top 16 in the playoff standings. The defending champion now faces an uphill battle to secure a playoff berth on points, having finished 25th or worse in four of his last six races.
Sources: Motorsport.com
Larson Suffers Back-to-Back DNFs at Talladega and Texas, Drops to Eighth
Kyle Larson suffered his second consecutive race-ending crash at Texas Motor Speedway, compounding his difficult stretch heading into Watkins Glen. Running 18th on Lap 160, Larson lost control of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and struck the outside wall near the exit of Turn 2, damaging the car’s steering. The team returned the car to pit road for repairs before sending him back out on Lap 245, ultimately finishing 34th. Combined with a 40th-place result at Talladega the previous week, the two-time series champion has dropped to eighth in the points standings and finds himself 208 points behind leader Tyler Reddick with the playoff cutoff line approaching.
Sources: NASCAR.com, Motorsport.com
Erik Jones Wins First Career Cup Stage in Texas Sprint
Erik Jones earned the first stage victory of his Cup career on Sunday, capitalizing on a late-Stage 1 caution at Texas Motor Speedway to take two fresh tires and sprint to the front. Jones, in the No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Chevrolet, held off Carson Hocevar in a six-lap dash to the stage end. The stage win delivered valuable bonus points and moved him from 26th to 22nd in the standings—his best position of 2026. Jones, a veteran of more than 300 Cup starts, had never previously won a stage in NASCAR’s current points format.
Sources: Motorsport.com, NASCAR.com
Chevrolet Sweeps All Three NASCAR National Series at Texas, Closes Manufacturer Gap
Chevrolet significantly narrowed the NASCAR manufacturer standings gap after a dominant performance at Texas Motor Speedway, where the brand’s cars finished first with Chase Elliott, third with Alex Bowman, sixth with Daniel Suarez, seventh with Carson Hocevar, and eighth with William Byron. The Texas result was part of a wider Chevrolet sweep across all three NASCAR national series that weekend, the first time in 2026 any manufacturer has won all three races in a single weekend. Toyota still leads the manufacturer championship, with Chevrolet now trailing by 73 points through 11 races after holding a seven-to-three advantage in wins. Ford sits third in the standings.
Sources: RACER, Motorsport.com
Katherine Legge Returns to NASCAR Cup Series for Watkins Glen Road Course
British driver Katherine Legge returns to the NASCAR Cup Series this weekend in the No. 78 e.l.f. Cosmetics Chevrolet for Live Fast Motorsports at the Go Bowling at the Glen. The Guildford, England, native has made eight previous Cup starts, all on road courses, and won the Six Hours of The Glen in the IMSA GTD class in 2017. Legge also enters the Indianapolis 500 the following weekend, the only woman in the field. Thirty-eight cars are entered for Sunday’s 100-lap race at the 2.45-mile Watkins Glen International, with practice and qualifying Saturday, May 9.
Sources: Jayski, Motorsport.com
NASCAR Cup Series Heads to Watkins Glen for Go Bowling at the Glen on May 10
The NASCAR Cup Series moves to Watkins Glen International in upstate New York this weekend for the Go Bowling at the Glen, the second road-course event of the 2026 season. The 100-lap, 245-mile race is set for Sunday, May 10 at 3 p.m. ET on FS1, with practice and qualifying on Saturday, May 9. Shane van Gisbergen is the defending race winner, having claimed victory at The Glen in 2025. The event is notably the earliest in the calendar year that Watkins Glen has hosted a Cup race. Championship leader Tyler Reddick enters as the strong favorite after winning three of the season’s first five road-course events.
Sources: NASCAR.com, Jayski
Cup Series Standings (Top 16)
1. Tyler Reddick — 526 pts
2. Denny Hamlin — 417 pts
3. Chase Elliott — 409 pts
4. Ryan Blaney — 371 pts
5. Chris Buescher — 345 pts
6. Carson Hocevar — 333 pts
7. Ty Gibbs — 330 pts
8. Kyle Larson — 318 pts
9. Brad Keselowski — 311 pts
10. William Byron — 308 pts
11. Bubba Wallace — 304 pts
12. Ryan Preece — 298 pts
13. Christopher Bell — 291 pts
14. Daniel Suarez — 271 pts
15. Austin Cindric — 248 pts
16. Chase Briscoe — 242 pts
Manufacturer Standings
1. Toyota — leads
2. Chevrolet — −73 pts
3. Ford — third
Curated by JD · samwise.agency
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