Denny Hamlin overcomes a penalty for a NASCAR Cup Sequence win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon within the Pennzoil 400.
LAS VEGAS, Nev.—A refocused and rejuvenated Denny Hamlin drove the dominant automotive to victory in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 Offered by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Denny Hamlin Overcomes a Penalty to Win
The NASCAR Cup Sequence victory was Hamlin’s first of the season, his third general and second straight on the 1.5-mile monitor, and the 61st of his profession—good for tenth on the all-time record.
The win got here 5 races after Hamlin suffered a crushing Eleventh-hour defeat within the race for the 2025 Cup championship at Phoenix Raceway final November. Three laps from his first title and foiled by an ill-timed warning, the motive force of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota took months to reconcile the frustration.
“I knew it took just a few weeks to really feel like driving,” Hamlin mentioned. “During the last couple weeks, I undoubtedly regained my love of it, obtained refocused. These are nice alternatives for us.”
His 61st victory broke a tie on the profession record with Kevin Harvick.
“My title stands out amongst… there’s the legends of the game,” mentioned the 45-year-old driver. “I really feel very lucky to be on the record. These guys have been way more gifted than I’ve ever considered being.
“I simply work actually onerous. I nonetheless to this present day work actually onerous at my craft to attempt to proceed to get higher. Days like right now definitely make me really feel joyful about the place I’m at within the sport nonetheless and what I can nonetheless do.”
Dismissing a pit highway dashing penalty on the first stage break, Hamlin rallied to guide a race-high 134 laps and held off the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets of Chase Elliott and William Byron, who ran second and third, respectively.
Pole winner Christopher Bell was fourth, adopted by Ty Gibbs, Chris Buescher, and Kyle Larson, who led 62 laps and completed second in each Stage 1 and Stage 2.
Chase Briscoe ran eighth, overcoming a pit highway dashing penalty, as did Gibbs, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate. Bubba Wallace got here house ninth, and Brad Keselowski tenth.
Tyler Reddick, winner of the primary three races this season, pale to thirteenth within the ultimate run however maintained his sequence lead by 61 factors over Wallace, his 23XI Racing teammate, and 67 over third-place Ryan Blaney.
With Hamlin relegated to the rear after his dashing penalty, the beginning of the second stage was a thrill present, with the vehicles of Larson, Bell, Byron, and Elliott packed collectively just like the Air Power Thunderbirds flying in formation.
The 4 drivers, quickly joined by Reddick, jockeyed for place for 3 laps earlier than Byron pushed Larson into the lead on lap 93, with Bell quickly following into second.
Larson led 28 laps earlier than steering his automotive to pit highway on lap 121. When the pit cycle ended, Larson led Bell by practically three seconds however started to fade towards the tip of the stage. Each Bell and Byron tracked Larson down, with Byron seizing an opportunity to take the lead three-wide within the tri-oval on lap 159.
Byron pulled away to win the stage, with Larson and Bell ending second and third beneath the inexperienced/checkered flag on lap 165.
And There’s Extra
In the meantime, Hamlin spent the whole thing of Stage 2 recovering from the pit highway dashing penalty he incurred beneath warning in the course of the Stage 1 break on lap 84. Restarting twenty first on lap 89, Hamlin methodically labored his means ahead and was fifth when the second stage ended.
Hamlin moved to second behind Byron after the final-stage restart on lap 174, grabbed the result in the within of the Hendrick driver on lap 185, and commenced to tug away.
However Hamlin’s lead was short-lived. On lap 211, Byron pulled forward within the third flip moments earlier than Connor Zilisch spun off the fourth flip to trigger the primary warning of the race for an on-track incident.
Beneath the yellow, Bell regained two positions and the lead with a fast cease, with Hamlin exiting pit highway in second and Byron and Elliott following in third and fourth. A sluggish pit cease relegated Larson to eighth for the lap 218 restart.
One lap later, Hamlin handed his JGR teammate for the lead and held it the remainder of the way in which, holding off a fast-closing Elliott by 0.502 seconds on the end.
“It (the No. 9 Chevrolet) was undoubtedly higher there in direction of the tip than we had began the run,” mentioned Elliott, who hasn’t led a lap at Las Vegas since NASCAR launched the Gen 7 race automotive in 2022.
“I assumed there may be a chance. I knew that he was beginning to get tight there on the finish of runs.
“Yeah, man, as bummed as I’m to come back up that near a win, I’ve to type of deliver myself again to a actuality test, how significantly better we ran right now than we’ve been working. I’m balancing that, proper?
“Clearly, this stuff are onerous to win. We had a fantastic alternative to do it. However actually pleased with the hassle all through the week, preparation, yesterday. Simply type of preventing via a not-so-good day. Getting up there within the combine with the fellows that win plenty of these races anymore. Actually pleased with that.”
Some Race Stats
Substituting for Alex Bowman, who’s affected by vertigo, Justin Allgaier completed twenty fifth. With lengthy green-flag runs being the order of the day, solely 20 of the 36 starters completed on the lead lap.
There have been 21 lead modifications amongst 9 drivers and three cautions for 20 laps.
Tyler Reddick continues to guide the purpose standings by 61 factors over his teammate, Bubba Wallace. Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, and Chase Elliott spherical out the highest 5.
Up Subsequent
The NASCAR Cup Sequence races subsequent at Darlington Raceway on March twenty second. The Goodyear 400 begins at 3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The defending winner is Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 from Joe Gibbs Racing.
