Denny Hamlin leads trio of Toyotas in dominant Martinsville NASCAR Cup win

Motorsport photo

It was a dominant showing for Denny Hamlin at Martinsville, leading over half the race (274 of 400 laps) in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. This is Hamlin’s first win of the 2025 season and the 55th of his career — tying Rusty Wallace for 11th on the all-time wins list. It was also the first victory for Hamlin with new crew chief Chris Gayle, as well as his first with new sponsor Progressive.

“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,” said Hamlin after collecting his sixth Martinsville win.

“The car was great. It did everything I needed it to do. Just so happy to win with Chris, get 55.”

Hamlin also unfurled a special flag while standing atop his car in the post-race celebrations. The following message was printed on the face of it: ’11 against the world.’

The run to the checkered flag

in the No. 23 car he co-owns.

The rash of yellows began just after a round of green-flag pitstops when Shane van Gisbergen lost a wheel, trapping defending race winner William Byron a lap down. Then it was Tyler Reddick spinning out Ty Gibbs, resulting in some heated radio communication and a post-race discussion between the two drivers. Chris Buescher and Noah Gragson then tangled with the latter showing his displeasure under caution. But the final caution of the race came with 83 laps to go when Chase Briscoe ran over the inside curbing and shot up the track, spinning Joey Logano out. The race was slowed by a total of ten cautions, but none in the final 75 laps.

From that point onward, it was green to the finish with Hamlin pulling out to a comfortable lead. Bell crossed the line as the runner-up after starting from pole position with Wallace capping off a 1-2-3 finish for Toyota.

Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

“I felt really bad at the end of the run there,” said Bell. “I was falling pretty far back behind Denny. I think qualifying really good was a big part of our success this weekend. Hopefully we can come back a little bit better in the fall and be able to have a nice, solid day like we did today.

“Everyone executed really well. Thank you to my pit crew. They did a great job. The car was amazing in qualifying. Got us that number one pit stall, which was a big part of our success today as well. We did the details right and came home second.”

Watch: Christopher Bell: ‘Did the details right’ in runner-up finish

The Hendrick Motorsports duo of Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five with Elliott fourth and Larson fifth.

Ross Chastain, Ryan Preece, Logano, Briscoe, and Todd Gilliland filled out the remainder of the top ten. Only one car failed to finish the race — the No. 2 Team Penske Ford of Austin Cindric after struggling with battery issues all day.