By AMANDA VINCENT
Denny Hamlin made a return trip to victory lane at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway on Sunday after a 10-year absence. His win of the Cook Out 400 was his sixth NASCAR Cup Series win at NASCAR’s oldest track but his first there since 2015.
“Chris Gayle (crew chief) and all the engineers, the pit crew, everyone on the wall right there deciding that they were going to come here with a different approach than they did over the last few years,” Hamlin cited as the reason for the win. “And it was great.”
VIDEO: Hamlin’s post-race press conference
Hamlin’s latest win was his first win of the season but the fourth Cup Series win in the first six races of 2025 for Joe Gibbs Racing, added to three wins by teammate Christopher Bell.
VIDEO: Joe Gibbs, crew chief Chris Gayle talk about win
Bell finished second, 4.617 seconds behind Hamlin, for a JGR one-two finish.
“He’s the Martinsville master, so second to him isn’t that bad,” Bell said.
Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. finished third for the 23XI Racing team co-owned by Hamlin.
Hendrick Motorsports duo Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson rounded out the top-five.
Hamlin put on a dominant performance, leading a race-high 274 laps. He was especially dominant in the second half of the 400-lap race.
Joey Logano won the 80-lap opening stage with Alex Bowman and A.J. Allmendinger in third.
A lap-71 caution for a Chris Buescher spin led to a two-lap, green-flag sprint to stage-end. The top-three drivers at the end of stage one were among eight drivers who stayed out during the caution.
The Buescher caution was the second caution of the race. The first was a debris caution while Elliott led on lap 31.
Elliott took the lead from pole sitter Bell on lap 25.
Josh Berry led a group of six drivers in staying out during the first caution. He, then, gave up the lead to pit during the lap-71 caution.
Berry experienced a power issue that necessitated a push to pit road under yellow. Austin Cindric also pitted with a power issue. After several battery changes throughout the race, Cindric retired from the race with about 25 laps to go. His car was the only one that did not finish the race.
Hamlin won the 100-lap second stage at lap 180. Elliott was second after passing Darrell Wallace on lap 175.
As in stage one, pit strategies varied in stage two. Hamlin and Wallace took first and second in the running order after being among the drivers who stayed out during a lap-122 caution for Burt Myers.
Elliott was the leader before the caution.
Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Bowman, and John Hunter Nemechek were the top-two for the restart at the beginning of stage two after staying out during the lap-71 caution and after stage one. On lap 94, Elliott took the lead a lap after the restart.
The yellow flag waved 10 times throughout the race with five cautions in the final half. Shane van Gisbergen brought out the seventh caution of the race on lap 275 when he lost a wheel soon after pitting under green.
Other cautions resulted from spins by Riley Herbst on lap 201, Ty Gibbs on lap 298, Noah Gragson on lap 309 and Joey Logano on lap 317.
Ross Chastain finished the race in the sixth position. Ryan Preece finished seventh, Logano eighth, Chase Briscoe ninth, and Todd Gilliland was 10th.
“I didn’t expect that one,” Preece said of his third-consecutive top-five finish. “Honestly, it all started with me messing up in qualifying and putting us back there. Ultimately, we got some great stage points and some great calls and great adjustments on the box, and we got this Fastenal Ford Mustang where it needed to be. We’ve got some work to do to be able to drive through like some other cars do, but I think we’ve got some good ideas, and obviously, a little luck went our way today. I’m proud of everybody on this Fastenal Ford Mustang and everybody at RFK. We’ve just got to keep working and keep grinding.”
Erik Jones was disqualified from the 24th position aftet his car failed to meet height requirements in post-race inspection.
