A look at the weekly NASCAR Cup Series stock watch after the race at Texas, including Alex Bowman and Joey Logano.
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From an entertainment standpoint, Texas Motor Speedway delivered once again this past weekend. A mix of strategy calls, pit road chaos and on-track incidents produced another compelling intermediate oval race.
Chase Elliott’s victory in the Würth 400 was his second of the 2026 season and a welcome sign for Hendrick Motorsports given the slower start to the year the organization has had. Going beyond Elliott’s win, another HMS driver is also among those trending up in this week’s NASCAR Cup Series stock watch.
Let’s take a closer look at which drivers and teams are trending up and down after Texas.
📈Stock Up | NASCAR Cup Series After Texas
Alex Bowman
Four races back from an extended absence due to vertigo, Alex Bowman is making a quiet case for himself as one of the more interesting names to watch down the stretch of 2026.
The return got off to a rough start — a DNF at Bristol and a middling Kansas run weren’t exactly encouraging. But the last two weeks have told a different story. Back-to-back third-place finishes at Talladega and Texas signal that the No. 48 team has the goods to be a consistent factor moving forward.
Championship contention may be off the table given his points deficit, but that actually makes Bowman an interesting angle for betting and fantasy purposes. Any Hendrick Motorsports car can emerge as a contender when things are clicking, and Bowman now occupies an unusual role — a driver buried in the standings who is quietly capable of showing up every week.
23XI Racing’s Young Duo
Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin and the 23XI Racing brass are going to have a significant decision to make ahead of the 2027 season — and the Würth 400 only added to the conversation.
Corey Heim made his first Cup Series start at Texas in the part-time No. 67 Toyota and acquitted himself well. Mixed pit strategies played a role in cycling him toward the front on multiple occasions, but his performance in clean air was genuinely impressive. His 69 laps led were second only to race winner Chase Elliott.
Meanwhile, Riley Herbst has quietly been trending in the right direction. An 11th at Texas following a 14th at Kansas suggests his tenure in the Cup Series is starting to find some footing after a slow start.
With Heim slated for several more part-time starts, the natural comparison between the two will only intensify. If 23XI doesn’t hand Heim a full-time ride for 2027, it’s hard to imagine he won’t find one elsewhere.
Daniel Suarez and Spire Motorsports
Last week it was Carson Hocevar. This week, Daniel Suarez gets his share of the spotlight after another successful weekend for Spire Motorsports.
Suarez narrowly missed the pole but still lined up alongside Hocevar on the front row. A practice issue prevented the team from fully dialing in the car’s balance, and it showed early — the No. 7 dropped through the field in the opening stint in a way that felt like a long afternoon was brewing. What followed was anything but.
Suarez used strategy to work his way back through the field and ultimately finished sixth, one spot ahead of his teammate. He now has three finishes of 12th or better in his last four races, and both he and Hocevar gained more ground in the standings this week.
From an organizational standpoint, sweeping the front row in qualifying and recording two top-10s one week after a breakthrough win is no small thing. Spire’s surge is real, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down.
📉Stock Down | NASCAR Cup Series After Texas
Joey Logano
For the second week in a row, Joey Logano was a DNF. To say that this one stung more than the Talladega wreck would be an understatement.
The circumstances made it especially painful. After narrowly avoiding a head-on collision with a spinning car, Logano rear-ended Cole Custer on the ensuing caution when Custer checked up on pit road. The resulting left front damage ended his day at a track where the No. 22 went to victory lane a year ago — not exactly a result anyone had penciled in.
Logano has now finished 30th or worse in three straight races. Penske’s broader struggles on intermediate ovals this season paint a grim picture — it’s starting to feel like he’s trying to climb the standings with one arm tied behind his back. The Texas DNF has pushed him outside the top 16 in points, a long way from where a three-time Cup Series champion expects to be.
Christopher Bell
You could argue Christopher Bell’s recent stretch is more frustrating than Logano’s — because the speed has been there. Luck simply hasn’t.
It started four races ago at Bristol, where Bell surged through the field in the opening stage before contact with the wall broke his tow link and relegated him to a day spent multiple laps down. A middling 20th at Kansas followed. Then a 17th at Talladega. At Texas, he rocketed to the front in the opening stage only to get clipped in the right rear by a spinning Todd Gilliland while leading in lapped traffic. The contact sent him into the wall and ended his day.
Bell has led 325 laps this season, third-most in the NASCAR Cup Series. He has nothing to show for it in the win column. The Texas DNF dropped him to 13th in points, and at some point the bad luck has to turn — but right now it’s hard to watch.
Ross Chastain
No intention of kicking a man when he’s down, but Ross Chastain has made himself a recurring presence in this section, and Texas did nothing to change that.
After starting 16th on the grid, a late Stage 1 strategy call worked him into the top 10. He couldn’t hold off the fresher tires behind him on the ensuing restart, failed to score stage points, and the race unraveled from there. The No. 1 car was 17th in Stage 2 and 26th at the finish.
What makes it sting more is the context. Trackhouse Racing has struggled mightily as an organization in 2026, but teammates Connor Zilisch and Shane van Gisbergen at least showed improvement with top-20 finishes on Sunday. With Chastain viewed as the team’s top driver, this race only makes the concerns around him specifically grow louder.
