Denny Hamlin celebrates his sixth Martinsville Speedway win with his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing crew and family. (Photo Credit: Chloe Gunn | The Podium Finish)
RIDGEWAY, Va. — After a decade-long hiatus from the Martinsville Speedway victory lane, Denny Hamlin has returned to the winners circle for the first time in nearly a year, securing his sixth win at the renowned 0.5-mile oval at Martinsville Speedway during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400.
Hamlin’s victory represents his 55th career win, which ties him for 11th place on the all-time Cup Series wins list alongside 2013 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Rusty Wallace. Additionally, this win marks the first for Progressive Insurance since partnering with Hamlin for 18 races in 2025.
The 400-lap race began with front row starters Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott leading the 38-car field to the green flag at Martinsville.
Bell would lead the opening 23 laps of the event before the lead was handed off to Elliott, as the driver who qualified first and second would duel each other for position for the first half of the opening 80-lap stage.
The first of 10 yellow flags on the day came out on Lap 32 for debris in Turn 4, in which Josh Berry would assume the lead for the restart on Lap 39.
With 10 laps remaining in the opening stage, Chris Buescher was spun out on the front stretch. Meanwhile, both Joey Logano and Alex Bowman chose to stay out on the track to compete for the Stage 1 victory. In the end, Logano crossed the finish line ahead of Bowman to win Stage 1.
Elliott would cycle back to the front during pit stops while the stage break caution had occurred and led the field back to green for the beginning of Stage 2.
After the Lap 123 came out for NASCAR Cup Series debut driver Burt Myers, Hamlin would possess the lead for the first of 279 laps he would eventually lead in his second half dominance on Sunday afternoon.
Hamlin cruised to the end of Stage 2, picking up his second stage victory on the 2025 campaign as the 44-year-old Cup Series veteran was ready to fend off the rest of the field for the final 220 laps of the race.
Denny Hamlin flexed his muscles during Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway, leading 279 laps en route to the win. (Photo Credit: Chloe Gunn | The Podium Finish)
Hamlin would go on to lead almost the entirety of the second half of the race, taking away the lead from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Bell for good with 80 laps to go after the 10th and final caution came out on the day for Logano going for a spin off the bumper of Chase Briscoe.
After waiting 3,654 days to return to Martinsville Speedway victory lane, the Virginia native celebrated his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2025 season. This win also marked the first for crew chief Chris Gayle and was Hamlin’s first victory since April 2024 at Dover Motor Speedway.
Denny Hamlin is shown celebrating with a burnout after winning the 2025 Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo Credit: Chloe Gunn | The Podium Finish)
Hamlin has now led over 2,500 laps at the oldest NASCAR Cup Series track, ranking him eighth on the leaderboard for this track.”It was just amazing,” said Hamlin after scoring the tumultuous victory on Sunday afternoon.
“You know, Chris Gayle, 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.”
he 55-time Cup Series winner celebrated by holding up a flag that read, “11 against the world,” which reflects the Ohio State University mentality.
“My buddies, my Ohio State fans that I hung out with at the end of last year, we always had the ‘Ohio State against the world’. So now it’s ’11 against the world.”
As Hamlin celebrated the victory, Bell reflected on his day, ultimately coming up short as he finished runner-up to his JGR teammate.
“I don’t know. We were back and forth on balance a little bit. 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 good. Happy to kind of get back up front.”
“Everyone executed well. Thank you to my pit crew. They did a great job. The car was amazing in qualifying.”
Bubba Wallace, who had a quiet but impactful day, finished in third after all was said in done in the state of Virginia.
“I feel like we were better than the 20 (Christopher Bell), but just everybody gets so stuck, then you feel like you have an advantage, you can’t do anything with it. We need to continue to work on this package, but all in all, back-to-back top-fives is a good day.”
Following the No. 23 of Bubba Wallace was the Hendrick Motorsports duo of Elliott and Kyle Larson for the top 5 finishing positions.
Ross Chastain, Ryan Preece, Logano, Briscoe, and Todd Gilliland secured spots in the top 10.
The NASCAR Cup Series ventures to South Carolina as NASCAR celebrates “throwback weekend” at the famed Darlington Raceway next Sunday.
Stage 1 Results
1. Joey Logano
2. Alex Bowman
3. AJ Allmendinger
4. Brad Keselowski
5. Erik Jones
6. John Hunter Nemechek
7. Ryan Preece
8. Chase Elliott
9. Denny Hamlin
10. Cole Custer
Stage 2 Results
1. Denny Hamlin
2. Chase Elliott
3. Bubba Wallace
4. Ty Gibbs
5. Chase Briscoe
6. Ryan Blaney
7. Ross Chastain
8. Christopher Bell
9. Kyle Larson
10. Tyler Reddick
Cook Out 400 Martinsville Speedway Results
| Finish | Start | Car No. | Driver | Team | Status |
| 1 | 5 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Running |
| 2 | 1 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing | Running |
| 3 | 8 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 23XI Racing | Running |
| 4 | 2 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Running |
| 5 | 4 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | Running |
| 6 | 17 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Trackhouse Racing | Running |
| 7 | 21 | 60 | Ryan Preece | RFK Racing | Running |
| 8 | 7 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Running |
| 9 | 11 | 19 | Chase Briscoe | Joe Gibbs Racing | Running |
| 10 | 25 | 34 | Todd Gilliland | Front Row Motorsports | Running |
| 11 | 32 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Running |
| 12 | 15 | 71 | Michael McDowell | Spire Motorsports | Running |
| 13 | 13 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Joe Gibbs Racing | Running |
| 14 | 9 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | 23XI Racing | Running |
| 15 | 28 | 10 | Ty Dillon | Kaulig Racing | Running |
| 16 | 19 | 38 | Zane Smith | Front Row Motorsports | Running |
| 17 | 12 | 8 | Kyle Busch | Richard Childress Racing | Running |
| 18 | 18 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Running |
| 19 | 29 | 77 | Carson Hocevar | Spire Motorsports | Running |
| 20 | 34 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. | Hyak Motorsports | Running |
| 21 | 26 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Trackhouse Racing | Running |
| 22 | 10 | 24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports | Running |
| 23 | 23 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing | Running |
| 24 | 31 | 43 | Erik Jones | Legacy Motor Club | Running |
| 25 | 6 | 17 | Chris Buescher | RFK Racing | Running |
| 26 | 16 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | Legacy Motor Club | Running |
| 27 | 27 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | RFK Racing | Running |
| 28 | 3 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Running |
| 29 | 30 | 7 | Justin Haley | Spire Motorsports | Running |
| 30 | 24 | 4 | Noah Gragson | Front Row Motorsports | Running |
| 31 | 36 | 51 | Cody Ware | Rick Ware Racing | Running |
| 32 | 35 | 35 | Riley Herbst | 23XI Racing | Running |
| 33 | 14 | 21 | Josh Berry | Wood Brothers Racing | Running |
| 34 | 22 | 41 | Cole Custer | Haas Factory Team | Running |
| 35 | 33 | 88 | Shane Van Gisbergen | Trackhouse Racing | Running |
| 36 | 37 | 66 | Casey Mears | Garage 66 | Running |
| 37 | 38 | 50 | Burt Myers | Team AmeriVet | Running |
| 38 | 20 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Team Penske | Mechanical |
