NASCAR

NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400: Fans Respond To Denny Hamlin Reclaiming Past Glory At Martinsville Speedway

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Jeff Hawkins
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Jeff Hawkins Sports Editor

Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry, in both print and digital media. He joined the Sportscasting team in 2021 following a decade of freelancing. He spent his early career as a reporter for various newspapers in Illinois, New York, Florida, North Carolina, and Michigan, with a particular emphasis as a beat reporter for the Chicago Blackhawks. Jeff earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from Oakland University. Over the course of his career he earned several sports writing awards, including two national awards from the Associated Press Sports Editors for column writing and news reporting. One of the five prized columns included a commentary on NASCAR's increasing corporate influences, particularly in northern racetracks — commentary which you might find Jeff building on as part of the Motorsports writing team at Sportscasting now.  

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Published30 Mar 2025

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cup denny hamlin rcing at martinsville spring (1)

NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400: Fans Respond To Denny Hamlin Reclaiming Past Glory At Martinsville Speedway 

It was hard to imagine NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin not winning at Martinsville Speedway in a decade. 

The one-time dominant driver at the 0.526-mile oval, Hamlin learned his craft by competing in Late Model races early in his career. As a Cup driver, he utilized his short-track skills to secured five trips to Victory Lane, but none since 2015 sprint event. 

Competing with a new crew chief, Chris Gayle, this season, Hamlin entered Sunday with a 5.6 average finish in his past five starts. But, in his five previous outings, his average was 18.0. 

Sunday’s win was Hamlin’s 55th, tying him with Rusty Wallace for 11th all-time on the Cup Series win list. It also was his 15th short-track triumph, second among active drivers.  

A win at Martinsville was elusive. Leading 274 laps and displaying long-run power, his drought is done. 

“It was amazing,” Hamlin told Fox Sports. “The car was great. I’m so happy to win with Chris. He’s been such a soldier to come into the 11 team and learn our style. Our relationship is getting better.” 

Pole-sitter Christopher Bell placed a distance second. 

“Hats off to Denny,” he said. “He’s the Martinsville master, so second to him is not that bad.” 

X (Twitter) users responded to “11 Against The World” … 

 Entering his second decade on the Cup circuit, Chase Elliott started P2 Sunday and finished P4 … 

Making his first Cup start since the 2019 Daytona 500, veteran Casey Mears remains 10 outings from 500. He finished P36 … 

On the other end of the driver spectrum, Jesse Love, the 2024 Xfinity Series rookie of the year and 2023 ARCA Menards Series champion, remains poised for his Cup debut … 

Sunday’s Cup start at Martinsville, the first short-track race this season. Will the end be cleaner than Saturday’s Xfinity event? … 

Reigning Cup Series champion Joey Logano earned the Stage 1 win, the 44th of his career. He had yet to prove he could compete in the third stage this season until a late rally Sunday. Logano finished P8 …

Driving like it was a Gen 6 machine, Hamlin drove away from the field to capture Stage 2, his driver-high eighth at the “Paper Clip” … 

Ty Gibbs’ slow start to the season extended to the short track. Gibbs, the 2023 Cup rookie of the year, entered Sunday 34th in the driver standings. Detoured Sunday by a Stage 3 spin, which Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Tyler Reddick created. The two spoke after the race after Gibbs (P13) finished ahead of Reddick (P14) … 

With 26 laps remaining, all 38 machines were still on the track. During the 154-race history at Martinsville, all events had at least one machine fail to finish. The streak continued as Austin Cindric’s No. 2 Ford team ran out of batteries and was forced out. Cindric battled early before finishing last …  

Finishing one spot in front of Cindric, local racer Burt Myers received his Cup opportunity … 

Known for being able to save his in-race equipment, Hamlin saved plenty of rubber to execute a classic burn out …