Chase Elliott is making history in more ways than one this NASCAR season. For the first time in his career, the sport's most popular driver has secured two Cup Series victories before the calendar even hits mid-May.
It all started at Martinsville Speedway back in late March, where Elliott broke through for his first win of the year. But he didn't stop there. Opening the month of May in Texas, Elliott drove his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to Victory Lane once again—and this win carried extra meaning. For years, Elliott had been less than thrilled with the repave and reconfiguration of the 1.5-mile oval, which underwent major changes nine years ago. Now, Texas is starting to feel like home.
"Having that early win at Martinsville took the pressure off, but it also gave us more time to build," Elliott said after the race, where he finished ahead of Denny Hamlin in another 1-2 finish for Hendrick Motorsports. "That's genuinely where my mind was at—and still is."
The victory didn't come without teamwork. With just four laps remaining, teammate Alex Bowman—who recently returned from a four-race absence due to vertigo—provided the decisive push on the final restart, helping Elliott seal the deal. Bowman himself has been on a roll, posting consecutive third-place finishes for the powerhouse Hendrick team.
When crew chief Alan Gustafson came over the radio proclaiming Elliott a two-time Texas winner, the driver's reaction was pure surprise: "I'll be damned. I'd never have thought."
At 30 years old and 11 races into his 12th Cup season, Elliott now joins five-time winner Tyler Reddick as the only drivers with multiple wins this year. To put that in perspective, the earliest Elliott had previously reached two wins in a season was 17 races into 2022—the year he matched his career-high five victories, tying his 2020 championship season.
"I knew right at Martinsville, we'd never won a race this early—much less to now have two this early," Elliott reflected. "I'm proud of our team for that. Anytime you can check off new boxes in this sport when you've been doing it for 10-plus years, it's cool. And it's hard to do."
Elliott led a race-high 87 of 267 laps at Texas for his 23rd career victory—a remarkable turnaround for a driver who just two years ago was in the midst of a 42-race winless streak. With momentum on his side and the season still young, the question now isn't if Elliott can win again—it's how many times he'll visit Victory Lane before the checkered flag falls on 2026.