In a renewal of his mastery of one of NASCAR’s original racetracks, Denny Hamlin dominated the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway to earn his first win of the 2025 season and victory No. 55 of his NASCAR Cup Series career. Hamlin earns his sixth win at Martinsville and his first in 10 years, moving into a tie for 11th on NASCAR’s all-time wins list with Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace.

Hamlin seldom relinquished the lead after making his way to the front, leading 274 of 400 laps, including the final 74. Despite a challenge from Christopher Bell, Hamlin pulled away over the final long run to win by over 4.5 seconds. After his win, he celebrated with a burnout during his Polish Victory Lap.

Hamlin, who had not won at Martinsville since the spring of 2015, credited new crew chief Chris Gayle and his team’s approach for their success. In his celebratory remarks, he emphasized the importance of the new strategy implemented for the race.

“Chris Gayle, all the engineers, the pit crew, everybody… they were gonna come here with a different approach than what we’ve had the last few years. And it was amazing!”

After his victory, Hamlin showcased a new flag that read “11 against the world,” motivated by his friendship with an Ohio State fan.

Hamlin led a Toyota 1-2-3 sweep with Bubba Wallace taking third and other drivers like Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson rounding out the top five.

In a notable incident, Ryan Blaney achieved a top-10 finish for the first time this season, breaking a streak of poor results, while Ty Gibbs managed to secure his first top-15 finish since the previous fall. Post-race, Erik Jones was disqualified for failing to meet minimum weight requirements.

Cook Out 400 Results

1. #11 - Denny Hamlin
2. #20 - Christopher Bell
3. #23 - Bubba Wallace
4. #9 - Chase Elliott
5. #5 - Kyle Larson
   …

For the complete list of finishers, please refer to the full results.