MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Denny Hamlin claimed a commanding victory in the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, March 30, 2025, leading 274 of the final 275 laps to secure his first NASCAR Cup Series win of the season. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver, piloting the No. 11 Toyota, beat teammate Christopher Bell by 4.617 seconds in the seventh race of the year, marking his sixth career win at the 0.526-mile short track and tying him with Rusty Wallace for 11th on the all-time Cup Series victory list with 55 wins.
Hamlin took the lead on Lap 126 of the 400-lap race and maintained control through a flawless performance, aided by his pit crew’s precision. The only lap he didn’t lead in the final stretch was credited to pole-sitter Bell, who briefly raced side-by-side with Hamlin after a restart on Lap 326. “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,” Hamlin said, crediting his new crew chief for the win. “It was just amazing. The car was great… I love winning here.” This victory, Hamlin’s first at Martinsville since 2015 and his first with the Gen 7 car, highlighted his mastery of the paper-clip-shaped track, where he has now won with seven different crew chiefs.
Bell, finishing second in the No. 20 Toyota, struggled with a loose car in the final 75-lap green-flag run. “We were back and forth on balance a little bit… That last run, I just went a little bit too loose and lost my drive off,” Bell said, but he praised the team’s overall performance: “It was a great weekend for Joe Gibbs Racing… Really happy for Denny. He’s the Martinsville master.” Bubba Wallace, driving for 23XI Racing (co-owned by Hamlin), took third, marking Toyota’s sweep of the top three spots. “I don’t know if I had anything for Denny. It would have been fun to try,” Wallace said, noting the strong showing for Toyota.
Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports rounded out the top five, followed by Ross Chastain, Ryan Preece, Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe, and Todd Gilliland in the top 10. Logano, the reigning Cup champion, recovered from a Lap 317 spin caused by Briscoe to finish eighth, his first top-10 of the season. William Byron, despite a 22nd-place finish due to a lengthy pit stop, retained the series lead by 17 points over Larson.
The race saw 10 cautions for 86 laps and nine lead changes among six drivers, with an average speed of 68.17 mph over 3 hours, 5 minutes, and 11 seconds. Early drama included a debris caution on Lap 31, allowing Josh Berry to lead 40 laps—the first for the No. 21 Wood Brothers car at Martinsville since 2005—before a spin and alternator issues dropped him to 32nd. Logano won Stage 1, and Hamlin dominated Stage 2, setting the tone for his victory.
