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Denny Hamlin Wins At Martinsville Speedway For First Time In 10 Years

by Hunter Thomas March 30, 2025 1 comment

RIDGEWAY, Va. – Denny Hamlin hadn’t won at Martinsville Speedway in 10 years, but on Sunday, the Virginia native absolutely dominated the Cook Out 400 to earn his first victory of the season.

Hamlin took the lead on Lap 126 and led 274 of the final 275 laps to secure his 55^th career win in the NASCAR Cup Series. The driver of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Progressive Toyota started fifth, finished 1 in ninth and swept the final two stages. In years past, Hamlin finished well, but this weekend, the team entered Martinsville with a different approach.

“You know, Chris Gayle (crew chief), all the engineers, the pit crew, everybody really on that wall right there, just deciding they were going to come here with a different approach than what we’ve been over the last few years. It was just amazing. The car was great. It did everything I needed it to do. Just so happy to win with Chris, get 55.”

Christopher Bell who already has three wins this season finished runner-up after starting on the pole. The run marked Bell’s best finish at Martinsville since he won back in the fall of 2022.

“We were back and forth on balance a little bit,” Bell said. “I asked to be freer throughout the whole race. That last run I just went a little bit too loose and lost my drive off.

“It was a great weekend for Joe Gibbs Racing. Showed a lot of pace. All four of the cars were really good. Really happy to kind of get back up front. The last two weeks have been rough for this 20 team.”

Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson completed the top-five. Rounding out the top-10 was Ross Chastain, Ryan Preece, Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe and Todd Gilliland.

There were nine lead changes among six drivers. Hamlin led a race high of 274 laps of the 400-lap race.

There were also 10 cautions for 86 laps.

William Byron leads Larson by 17 points in the standings. The NASCAR Cup Series will visit Darlington Raceway on Sunday, April 6 for the Goodyear 400. Live coverage will broadcast on FS1 at 3 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images