HLs: 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Texas Motor Speedway
Watch highlights from the NASCAR Cup Series Würth 400 presented by LIQUI MOLY at Texas Motor Speedway.
Video Transcript
Pace car is in, and here they come, set to race for 400 miles in Texas.
Green flag.
Well, these are the most nerve-wracking laps around Texas Motor Speedway because of the fact that these cars are so edgy, and when they're side by side like this, you have no choice but to run in that second lane.
Down here in three and four over the bump is where it gets really, really hairy.
And Briscoe looking to the inside of Buescher already.
They were three wide for a moment.
As Buescher moves up, takes one.
He may take another spot from teammate Denny Hamlin.
Briscoe trying for third.
Kyle Busch was with him all the way to the entrance of the corner, then drifted back a couple of car lengths.
Yeah, and Kyle Busch had a great qualifying run, as you see Briscoe on the inside of Denny Hamlin right here.
Ran side by side through turns one and two, able to keep that throttle down and get that position on the 11.
They were running him down a tenth and a half to two, two and a half tenths a lap.
But look- Oh, big time that's how the mirror driving and how you take that air off of them.
Yeah, and I- He crossed that wake.
Briscoe crossed the wake of that car in front of him, and the front end took off and That was just a mistake on Briscoe's, Yeah, and you see the, the reverse- Yeah was reversed right there as the six car- Oh!
Oh.
Oh, no.
It clipped Bell.
Bell's around.
Bell in the wall- Ugh on the front straightaway after contact back in turn number four.
Unbelievable.
And at lap 69, we have the first caution of the day.
Four of the last five races, Bell has finished outside the top 15.
Well, let's watch it again.
You see the car get sideways up on the high lane, tries to get into gas, and does.
To keep it out of the wall, brings it down.
It just barely clips Bell, turns him right head-on into the wall.
And Bell is in just a s- such an awkward spot right there.
He's got Denny Hamlin below him.
Bracing for the lead.
You see him coming down the racetrack, but you can only turn it so hard down the racetrack before it'll just spin out.
Wow.
Both ends.
In three and a half to go, stage one, and right now Denny Hamlin in the 11 with the last stage point.
Yeah, and he, he is, he is definitely still losing spots right there, as you see Chase Elliott make it three wide on him.
Austin Cindric now on the bottom, three wide.
So Denny Hamlin struggling on this restart.
Cindric to the inside.
Three wide into the corner.
Top lane gives.
Coming to one to go, they're gonna be three wide.
It's gonna be a Hendrick sandwich- Look out of the one car.
Gosh.
Wow.
Got to be so careful with those cars when they get that close.
That inside car, sometimes it'll just pull them into the door of the outside car, but they got away with it right there, Mike.
Chastain now in the 10th and final point position.
He and Hamlin are gonna battle for it as they come around turn number four, and Erik Jones will get his first ever stage win in the Cup Series.
Hosovark for second.
Stenhouse gives Briscoe the first five.
Busch, Allmendinger, Elliott, Byron, and Denny Hamlin score stage points.
Here we go for stage two as the drivers approach the EchoPark Automotive restart zone.
Hosovark inside, Ty Gibbs outside.
Yeah, and we would expect that 54 car to drive right around the 77 based upon his tire advantage, so see if that happens.
See Chase Briscoe gonna get a huge run on both of these cars.
Whoa, big block.
That's gonna We've seen that with Briscoe before.
That wasn't aero blockin'.
That was more like cinder blockin'.
Yeah, that was a big block.
Blocking is huge part of what we do in today's world.
And if, if you're in that 77 car with a two tire disadvantage, you have to do that.
You better be bold and keep ahold of this clean air as long as you possibly can.
You get mired in traffic, you are finished.
Yeah, and he's hanging in there a lot better than I expected him to, but I think that cycle on the tires probably made this a little more even than what it would've been compared to stickers, so I still think it's gonna be short-lived, but the longer he can hold onto it and keep this clean air, the better it'll be longer.
Well, they both stopped at lap 70 during the first caution.
The difference, Gibbs and Briscoe got four tires.
The 77 only took two.
Just barely not able to clear Carson Hosovark right there.
You see the side draft take effect and that car drive right back by.
Oh, slid up a little bit.
Oh.
See him hit the bump.
Gibbs hit the bump, guard got loose, and Briscoe's around him.
Tires up.
Oh.
Trouble.
Front straightaway, car around.
Byron right in front of the pack.
Flag it down.
Flag it down.
Flag it down.
And everybody gets by.
Ooh, that was close.
Listen to this bump.
Clear.
Hang on to it.
Hang on to it.
Hang on to it.
Didn't get hit.
Flag it down.
Flag it down.
Flag it down.
Flag it down.
Still okay.
Get it back rolling again.
And this is what happens when you have two tires, cars coming out of the pit boxes so quick.
Oh, that, that car, that hit harder than I thought, Clint.
Right front is definitely hurt on the 19.
Yeah, that, that car's in big trouble.
Next, Joey Logano-And Cole Custer, Cole Custer trying to let the 54 out of his box, but look at Custer.
He's not quite close enough to even get into his pit, and now you're gonna ride along with the Hunt Brothers Pizza Cam and Logano.
Oh.
Held it.
Sorry.
And the third incident, Denny Hamlin gets blocked in by Conor Zilisch, who ends up overshooting his pit and having to back up.
In the back, caution waves for a car that got up into the wall in turns three and four.
It's Ty Gibbs with trouble on the right front.
Gibbs.
You can see him back here in the back.
I think he got help, Kevin.
I can't tell who's the car behind him, but I think it might be Ryan Preece.
With 14 laps to go in stage two, Corey Heim is the leader.
He's not been on pit road since lap 70.
Zane Smith, the other driver in that situation, did stop for fuel a lap ago while we were in break.
So here's Heim.
He's gonna surrender the lead and come to pit road now.
Chase Elliott will be the new leader.
Car spins and is in the wall.
That's Kyle Larson.
Wow, his day just got worse.
Copy.
Fifth caution of the day, lap 160.
You can see Kyle's all by himself, kind of right in the middle of the racetrack, a lot like Bubba.
We saw it- Identical just, yep, just come out from underneath of him.
He's been struggling with the handling of that car all day.
A- and we've heard him.
The front, it's gonna be green and then green checker.
Here we go.
Great jump by Brad, though.
Yeah, and that's what you wanna do when you Great jump for Good start for both of them, really.
Oh, my gosh.
You, you see the 60 car up the hill, but you see the difference in speed.
Yeah.
It's only one lap, though.
Yeah, luckily they only have to go one lap.
They're only gonna lose a couple spots.
Elliott sends it into turn three.
Reddick on the bottom.
Oh, Reddick.
Hamlin coming.
Here they all come for the stage win.
Give it to Chase Elliott.
Reddick, Keselowski holds on for third, and I believe Preece for fifth.
First stage win of the season for Elliott.
Heavy Toyota on the front row as they approach the EchoPark Automotive restart zone for stage three.
And where he is the new closer, talking about Reddick.
They just keep themselves in the game.
Yeah.
And today is another classic example of the 45 just working on their car, trying to make their stuff better.
See him battling Chase Elliott for the lead right now.
Be careful of the bump on that outside.
As they came down that back stretch, Hosokawa was mirror driving Bowman all the way down to the inside of the racetrack to hold on to seventh place.
Ninth, Byron, Stenhouse side by side.
And that strategy for Stenhouse worked out pretty good.
He's been able to get stage points in both of these stages.
William Byron, we saw him sideways through the grass earlier, now sitting in ninth spot.
Another nice recovery.
One car that's drifted back out of the top 10 is Kyle Busch back here trying to hold onto 12th place.
We have his radio.
I can't fire.
You We have got to fix the fire.
I cannot go.
I am spinning out with the right rear.
I'm saying he had a little bit of a bark about firing off two, three.
Like, it's all good.
He ain't, he ain't pissed at nobody.
He just saying we just gotta get our together a little bit better, that's all.
We're good.
Oh, copy dude.
I'm, I believe you, man.
Reagan?
Well, Mike, halfway down the back stretch, Alan Gustafson said pit this time if you can.
Chase telling him that the car's the best it's been all day this run.
He's been able to manage that right rear very nicely.
Josh?
Kyle Reddick in that 45 who's been losing all his time on entry.
He said, "I need to be just a tick tighter."
It'll be four tires of fuel for the 45.
All right.
Denny Hamlin gives up the lead to come to pit road.
Noah Gregson is there, so is John Hunter Nemechek and Josh Berry as green flag stops continue.
Reagan?
Well, the report from driver Denny Hamlin, the crew chief Chris Gale, this run just a little bit too much on the tight side.
Wants a little bit of help with that.
So that will leave eight cars on the lead lap who have not yet made this green flag stop, as you see on the pylon.
So we're right back where we were a couple of green flag runs ago with Corey Heim leading this race and running long because he can.
And I think I'd I would run it until it was gonna run outta gas.
I, I Look, just roll the dice and, and see if you can get yourself into that position.
He's got a car that is fast enough to be able to compete up there if they ever get the track position swing, to, to work out their way.
And Mike, that normally means with the way those things are structured, you've got that reservoir in there.
One of the lift pumps is in that reservoir.
Based on my information I've gathered, you might have one or two laps at a mile and a half track.
What's the indication there, though?
That thing probably stumbled, lost fuel pressure- Probably started sputtering on the gauge or something.
Started sputtering.
He knows to go to that second pump.
That's right.
Yeah.
Well, typically what happens, you know, you'll have the fuel pressure on your dash, and you'll start to see that fuel pressure number start to fluctuate a little bit as, as you get to the corner, so.
Pit time.
Pit time.They've r- they've run it as far as they can, but from the driver's standpoint, when you see that number start to fluctuate, because it stays pretty steady on the fuel pressure, but when it fluctuates a little bit, you flip that second pump on.
Well, Chase Elliott has assumed command of this race with 29 laps to go.
Here Spinner, turn four.
Oh, man.
Corey Heim.
And caution waves with 11 laps to go.
Well, this changes everything.
Yeah, that just got out from underneath him right there.
The road is open.
Couple of feints and here comes That's Reddick.
So there won't be that many from the front of the field that stop, so the first car with fresh tires is gonna be pretty well back, I think.
We're gonna settle this in the final four laps.
Elliott, Hamlin, for the restart.
Green flag.
Oh, Denny Hamlin got a great start on the outside right there.
Here goes Tyler Reddick all the way to the outside.
He's gonna keep that run going all the way through the corner.
Elliott's gonna clear Hamlin.
Look at this back of the back.
Reddick around the outside of Blaney.
It's exactly the start that Elliott was looking for.
Reddick with those two new tires steaming around the outside of Byron.
That's for fifth.
Gonna have to make quick work.
Jones with four fresh tires has climbed three spots from 19th.
Didn't get him cleared.
Oh.
Slid up the racetrack.
That's gonna halt his forward momentum here.
Take a little bit to get that 45 car wound up.
Yeah, and I think the best case scenario for the 45 car right now is if they have another caution to utilize those fresh tires.
That's his only shot.
Front five single file.
Hosar on the outside takes sixth from Byron with Suarez challenging.
You see Chase Elliott all the way up above those hash marks already, leaving Denny Hamlin a lane, but that momentum that, in that lane that Chase Elliott has been able to run has worked well for him all day.
A replay of Martinsville for those first two cars where Elliott won and Hamlin was second.
Here they come off turn four.
White flag waving, one lap to go, sponsored by Credit One Bank, and a car in the wall in turn four.
Did the leader get the white- Yes before the caution?
He did.
It's still green.
No, no caution yet.
No caution yet.
And that car- He's down on the racetrack goes to the apron and to pit road.
We're still racing.
He's gonna get it back, so we will finish under green here.
Chase Elliott into three, around four, wrapping the bottom of the racetrack.
The car that spun was John Hunter Nemechek.
He's okay.
And Chase Elliott scores the win for Rick Hendrick and Chevrolet.
