Hamlin's 61st NASCAR Cup Series Victory at the Pennzoil 400 in Las Vegas

Five months passed between the loss that cost him the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series championship at Phoenix, with three laps to go, and the moment Denny Hamlin won a race again. The Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was that race, and Hamlin won it with 134 laps led, half a second over Chase Elliott, and a comeback from 21st place after receiving a pit road speeding penalty mid-race.

It is Hamlin's 61st victory, moving him into sole possession of tenth place on the Cup Series all-time wins list and making him just the fifth driver to win in 20 different seasons, alongside Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Dale Earnhardt, and Jeff Gordon. "I knew it was going to take me a while to want to drive again," Hamlin admitted. "In the last two weeks, I got the love back for it and I refocused."

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Hamlin came back from 21st place in 80 laps

Hamlin received a pit road speeding penalty during the yellow flag at the conclusion of Stage 1 on lap 84 and was sent to the back of the field for the Stage 2 restart, starting from 21st place. In races with the Gen 7 car, a penalty like that mid-race is usually terminal because green flag runs are long and there is little time to recover positions, but Hamlin knew his Toyota No. 11 had enough pace to come back, and within 15 laps he was already quickly gaining positions.

By the end of Stage 2 he was fifth, and when Stage 3 restarted on lap 174 he moved into second behind William Byron. Hamlin took the lead from Byron on lap 185, briefly lost it on lap 211 when Byron passed him in turn 3 just before Connor Zilisch's spin brought out the first yellow flag for an on-track incident, and reclaimed it for good on lap 219 when he passed his teammate Christopher Bell, who had inherited the lead with a quick stop under that caution.

From there, Hamlin controlled the race comfortably until Elliott started closing in the final laps. "The No. 9 was better at the end of the run than it was at the start," Elliott acknowledged, who has not led a lap at Las Vegas since NASCAR introduced the Gen 7 in 2022. "I'm frustrated to finish this close, but I have to be realistic about how much better we ran today compared to what we've been doing."

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Hamlin and his crew chief never talked about the Phoenix loss

The press conference revealed a detail about the relationship between Hamlin and his crew chief Chris Gayle. Taking four tires instead of two under the final yellow flag of the 2025 championship race at Phoenix was what cost Hamlin the title, but the two never discussed that call. "We didn't talk about it, not once," Hamlin confirmed, and explained he holds no grudge because when Gayle made the call, he looked at the code on his screen and agreed. "I would have been equally at fault. If I'd thought it was the wrong call, I would have said something."

Joe Gibbs, the team owner, spoke of Gayle as someone "mentally very strong" and "very underrated in what he does," and recalled that he himself has lived through similar situations where a call doesn't turn out as expected.

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Reddick finished 13th but holds a 61-point cushion

Tyler Reddick, winner of the first three races of the 2026 season, lacked pace in the final run and dropped to 13th place, but maintains a comfortable championship lead with 255 points, 61 ahead of his 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace and 67 over Ryan Blaney. Hamlin jumped eight positions in the overall standings and is now fourth with 177 points. Joe Gibbs Racing placed four cars in the top eight, with Bell fourth, Ty Gibbs fifth, and Chase Briscoe eighth, although Hamlin, Briscoe, and Gibbs all received pit road speeding penalties during the race. "We've got to look at that seriously," Joe Gibbs admitted regarding his team's three infractions.

Kyle Larson led 62 laps and seemed a candidate to win for a good portion of the race, but a slow stop under the final yellow sent him back to eighth for the restart and he finished seventh. Byron won Stage 2 and led 26 laps, but couldn't match Hamlin's pace in the final run and ended up third. Justin Allgaier substituted for Alex Bowman, who remains out with vertigo issues, and finished 25th. Only 20 of the 36 cars that started finished on the lead lap, a direct consequence of the long green flag runs that characterized a race with just three yellow flags in 267 laps. The NASCAR Cup Series races next week at Darlington Raceway, on Sunday, March 22nd.