Joe Gibbs Racing scored a 1-2 finish at NASCARโs smallest track.
MARTINSVILLE, Va. โ Denny Hamlin returned to victory lane at Martinsville Speedway, a track he dominated earlier in his career.
Hamlin beat his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell by over four seconds in the NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday. Hamlin led 253 of the raceโs 400 laps and did not relinquish the lead after gaining it in the second stage.
โ[My team] decided they were gonna come here with a different approach than the last few years, and the car was great,โ Hamlin said. โSo happy to work with Chris Gayle (Hamlinโs crew chief).โ
Hamlin was once synonymous with Martinsville. He won four Cup Series races at the track from 2008 to 2010. Sundayโs race is Hamlinโs sixth win at the track. His last win at Martinsville was in March 2015. Hamlin grew up in Cheterfield County, Virginia, about 200 miles from Martinsville.
Bell, Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott, and Kyle Larson finished in the top five.
Bell won the pole and led the field to the green flag. Chase Elliott quickly got around him for the top spot. An early debris caution split the fieldโs strategy, with some drivers choosing to stay out. Josh Berry gained the lead by staying off pit road and stayed in front until a battery issue during a later caution ruined his chances at a decent finish.
Hamlin gained the lead by staying off pit road during a caution in stage two. He never gave up the lead from there, only seeing challenges from Bell and Wallace.
Martinsvilleโs typical case of bumper-banging action was on display with a string of cautions in the final stage. Joey Logano, Riley Herbst, Ty Gibbs, Zane Smith, and Noah Gragson were the victims of three cautions during a 100-lap period after being spun around by other drivers. Logano was hit by Chris Buescher on lap 317, which proved to be the raceโs final caution.
The event was 35 laps away from being the first NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville without a single DNF in the field until Austin Cindric was forced out of the race for a battery issue. Team Penske was out of replacement batteries because of prior issues for Cindric and Berry.
Itโs Hamlinโs first win of 2025, making him the fifth different winner this season. The NASCAR Cup Series is next in action at Darlington Raceway for the Goodyear 400 on Sunday, April 6. Brad Keselowski is the defending winner.
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