Denny Hamlin Turns Back Time in Dominating Martinsville Win

Denny Hamlin dominated on his path to a sixth career win at Martinsville Speedway in the Cook Out 400. Hamlin bested Christopher Bell and Bubba Wallace for the race win. | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Tick tock, Denny Hamlin took home his sixth career Martinsville clock after putting in one of the most dominating performances of his illustrious NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday's Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway.

RESULTS: Cook Out 400 at Martinsville

"Certainly felt like the old days," Hamlin said of the win in his post-race press conference.

It was a sweet moment for Hamlin, who hadn't scored a win at the Virginia short track since the 2015 season.

"I mean, just they did such a great job with the car, and we spoke about trying to do something a little different this time around to try and get better. We've just kind of been stuck in a rut really over the last three years or so," Hamlin explained. "The Fall of 2022 is the last kind of dominant car I thought I had at this racetrack. Since then, just been kind of hanging around third to fifth, and we were always the next best behind [Ryan Blaney] and then a couple of Hendrick cars. And so, we came with something different, just trying to get better, and obviously turned back the clock."

Hamlin, 44, led a race-high 274 laps en route to his 55th career NASCAR Cup Series win, and as the race ran clean and green over the final 75 laps, the driver, who is one of the best at conserving his tires over a long run, pulled away to take a commanding victory.

The win is Hamlin's first victory of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, and it snaps a 31-race winless drought, which spanned back to a victory at Dover Motor Speedway in April 2024. The victory margin for the driver of the No. 11 Progressive Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry XSE was 4.617 seconds over his teammate Christopher Bell, who started on the pole and finished second.

The 274 laps led by Hamlin Sunday at Martinsville equates to the second-most laps Hamlin has ever led in a race win in his NASCAR Cup Series career. The only occasion where Hamlin has led more laps in a win than he did in the Cook Out 400 was in a 2009 victory at Richmond Raceway, where he led 299 laps. It was a true throwback performance for Hamlin in Sunday's race.

Bell led the race three times for a total of 25 laps from the pole, and came back from a track position deficit mid-race to pick up the runner-up finish. Bell now has four top-two finishes through the opening seven races of the 2025 season as he had a three-race winning streak from Atlanta Motor Speedway in February to Phoenix Raceway in March.

The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota explained after the race that he and his team battled the handling on his car all race long, and on their final adjustment, they simply went too far with their changes.

"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," Bell said. "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. Proud of all our partners, DeWalt, Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Really happy for Denny. He's the Martinsville master. Second is not that bad."

Bubba Wallace continued his recent wave of momentum with a third-place run, his second-consecutive third-place finish.

"I'm trying to scratch my head on what I could have done different[ly]," Wallace stated following the race. "My restarts were terrible. One of my best traits, so need to go back and study that. [But] What a great day. Continuing to rebound from the start of our season. Super proud of our group here at the 23 team. McDonald's Toyota Camry was fast all weekend."

Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson finished fourth and fifth.

Elliott looked like he could become the race's dominant driver early in the event as he led 42 laps, then the race-high, before Hamlin took the lead for the first time on Lap 126.

Rounding out the top-10 finishers in the race were Ross Chastain, Ryan Preece, Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe, and Todd Gilliland.

The seventh-place run for Preece marks the RFK Racing driver's third-consecutive top-10 finish, which becomes the first time he's ever accomplished that feat in his NASCAR Cup Series career.

Logano, the defending series champion, finally picked up his first top-10 finish of the season, but he had to battle back from a late-race incident to score the solid finish. However, Logano wasn't ready to celebrate the top-10 finish as he was left seething about how he was raced by Ross Chastain.

With 91 laps remaining, Chastain cut Logano's nose off as Logano was trying to work around him. A few laps later, Chastain played a role in the incident, which sent Logano spinning out. Chastain put a block on Briscoe, and Briscoe collided with the curbing on the inside of the track, which shot him back into Logano.

Chase Briscoe/Joey Logano incident from Briscoe's onboard pic.twitter.com/4GSoMiKm9B

— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) March 30, 2025

"He races like a jackass every week, and I keep paying the price and I'm sick of paying the price," Logano lamented about his on-track dealings with Chastain on Sunday.

When asked if he has anything to say to Chastain, Logano scoffed, "Not at the moment. Nothing good. That's twice in the last three weeks, so, that's the deal."

Despite an uncharacteristically subpar 22nd-place run, William Byron maintained his NASCAR Cup Series regular season point lead. Leaving Martinsville Speedway, Byron holds a 17-point lead over Kyle Larson.

The 36th and 37th-place finishers also proved to be notables as well. Casey Mears, who made his first NASCAR Cup Series start since the 2019 season, drove admirably for the No. 66 Garage 66 team, but after some issues down the stretch, Mears finished 11 laps off the pace in 36th.

Burt Myers finished one lap, and one spot behind Mears in what was his NASCAR Cup Series point race debut. Myers competed previously in the NASCAR Cup Series in the preseason exhibition event at Bowman-Gray Stadium for Team AmeriVet.

Next up for the NASCAR Cup Series is the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, April 6. That race will be televised on FS1 with coverage beginning at 3:00 PM ET.