{"id":55254,"date":"2025-10-12T21:45:01","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T02:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=55254"},"modified":"2025-10-18T08:58:31","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T13:58:31","slug":"denny-hamlin-seizes-60th-win-championship-4-spot-with-las-vegas-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/12\/denny-hamlin-seizes-60th-win-championship-4-spot-with-las-vegas-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"Denny Hamlin seizes 60th win, Championship 4 spot with Las Vegas victory"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 ampm Toyota, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 12, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Logan Riely\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

LAS VEGAS \u2013 Denny Hamlin scored an emotional victory and claimed a significant career milestone with a dramatic win in Sunday\u2019s NASCAR Cup Series\u2019 South Point 400 Playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 ampm Toyota, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 12, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Hamlin passed two cars in the final 10 laps, ultimately taking the lead from his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe with four laps remaining then holding off the day\u2019s most dominant driver Kyle Larson by 1.533-second to claim his series\u2019 best sixth win of the season and 60th win of his career.<\/p>\n

The win secures the first of four positions in the Nov. 2 Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway \u2013 landing Hamlin his first title shot since 2021.<\/p>\n

Hamlin was notably moved in the moments after climbing out of his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Instead of the typical playful banter the veteran normally delivers to the crowd after a win, the 44-year-old Virginian spoke more solemnly, mentioning his father Dennis, who has been ill.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 ampm Toyota, poses with the winner sticker on his car in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 12, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Logan Riely\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThis win means a lot, this is the point where I kind of give the fans some $#%& [grief] but not today, I appreciate you all so much,” said Hamlin, his eyes water-filled as he looked toward the crowded grandstands.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously just want to say \u201chi\u201d to my dad and family back at home,” Hamlin added, his voice cracking with emotion. \u201cWe were hoping to get 60 [wins] today, but didn\u2019t think we were. Just put the pedal down those last 10 laps and made it happen.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Crew chief] Chris [Gayle] did an amazing job on that final stop getting the car just right and I just held it down. That\u2019s all I could do, just go for it. I felt like I had nothing to lose just go for it and try to punch a ticket now and it feels great.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 ampm Toyota, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 12, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cJust super proud of the team for making all the adjustments they did and the pit crew for doing a great job all day.”<\/p>\n

It marked the eighth time Hamlin and fellow Playoff contender Larson have finished in some combination of first and second place. Larson\u2019s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was the class of the field for most of the day \u2013 leading a race high 129 of the 267 laps \u2013 but just unable to hold off Hamlin\u2019s pole-winning Toyota heading to the checkered flag.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we did everything that we could do,” said Larson, who now holds a 35-point advantage above the Playoff cutoff line. \u201cThe Toyotas were really fast for the short-run there. I saw the No. 11 (Hamlin) line up behind me and I knew he\u2019d be difficult to hold off. If any one of the Toyotas got clear and could get rolling, I knew it would be tough.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 ampm Toyota, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 12, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Logan Riely\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cHe did a great job, though. He still had to make the right moves, which he did. I felt like I was doing all I could to stay in front of him, while also trying to track down the No. 19 (Briscoe). We just came up a little bit short, but overall, it was a great day for the No. 5 Chevrolet team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Larson, like Hamlin took four tires on the final pit stop and lined up on the second row for the final restart with 14 laps remaining. Hamlin\u2019s teammate Briscoe was out front, benefitting from a two-tire call that gave him better track position.<\/p>\n

Hamlin re-started fifth and made his way forward, passing Larson with five laps remaining and then getting around his teammate Briscoe with four laps remaining. Larson and then Joe Gibbs Racing\u2019s Christopher Bell also got around Briscoe in the closing laps.<\/p>\n

\"\"

William Byron, driver of the #24 Relay Payments Chevrolet, leads the field during the NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 12, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

It marked the 15th time this year Toyota had four of a race\u2019s top-five finishing drivers. The effort gives Bell a 20-point advantage on the cutoff line in third-place and Briscoe a 15-point edge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was hanging on but I thought I was in a really good spot there for that last three or four laps on that restart,” said Briscoe, who finished fourth.  \u201cMy car drove really good and as I ran, I was just absolutely sideways. Thought there for a while when they [Larson and Hamlin] were racing hard I\u2019d be able to sneak one off, but just really really loose there at the end. At least a JGR car won but that\u2019s going to sting for a while.”<\/p>\n

\"\"

Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, Chase Briscoe, driver of the #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, and William Byron, driver of the #24 Relay Payments Chevrolet, lead the field during the NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 12, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

While Briscoe didn\u2019t win, his top-five finish certainly helped his Playoff chances too. Four of the top-six finishers \u2013 Hamlin, Larson, Bell and Briscoe – are among the current field of eight Playoff drivers competing for a Championship 4 appearance with two races remaining in this penultimate round – next week at the 2.66-mile Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway and the next week at the half-mile Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.<\/p>\n

Reigning series champion and current Playoff driver, Team Penske\u2019s Joey Logano also gambled on a two-tire stop on that last caution period and was able to manage a sixth-place finish. Hendrick Motorsports\u2019 Chase Elliott was 18th rallying from an early race pit miscue and penalty.<\/p>\n

\"\"

William Byron, driver of the #24 Relay Payments Chevrolet, and Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 ampm Toyota, race during the NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 12, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Elliott\u2019s teammate, Regular Season Champion and Daytona 500 winner William Byron finished 36th after a bizarre late-race collision when his No. 24 Chevrolet car slammed into the back of the No. 10 Chevrolet driven by Ty Dillon, who pulled down to pit although Byron running at full speed said he had absolutely no signal of Dillon\u2019s intention.<\/p>\n

The incident cost Byron dearly in the standings, dropping him to 15 points below the cutoff line, followed by Elliott (-23), Logano (-24) and Ryan Blaney (-31).<\/p>\n

As with Byron who won Stage 1 and led 55 laps Sunday, Penske\u2019s Blaney \u2013 the 2023 series champion \u2013 also had tough outing, finishing last in the 38-car field and dropping from second in the points to eighth.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Chase Briscoe, driver of the #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, and Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 ampm Toyota, race during the NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 12, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Blaney\u2019s No. 12 Team Penske Ford had a tire problem late in the opening stage and slammed into the wall only 70 laps in.<\/p>\n

Blaney\u2019s disappointment after getting out his car was palpable. He\u2019s finished 32nd or worse in the last three Las Vegas races. The upside for him, however, is that he has three wins at Talladega Superspeedway and has won the last two Martinsville Playoff races.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not very happy right now, but tomorrow morning I\u2019ll be optimistic to go to the next race,” Blaney said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had good success at the next two events, so hopefully we can come and bring the speed and try to overcome the hole we put ourselves in today.\u201d<\/p>\n

23XI Racing\u2019s Tyler Reddick was the lone non-Playoff driver among the top-five Sunday, finishing fifth in his Toyota. Hendrick\u2019s Alex Bowman, Richard Childress Racing\u2019s Kyle Busch, and Roush-Fenway-Keselowski teammates Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top-10.<\/p>\n

The NASCAR Cup Series moves to the Talladega Superspeedway high banks next Sunday for the Yellawood 500 (2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is the defending race winner.<\/p>\n

NASCAR Cup Series Race – South Point 400<\/b><\/p>\n

Las Vegas Motor Speedway<\/b><\/p>\n

Las Vegas, Nevada<\/b><\/p>\n

Sunday, October 12, 2025<\/b><\/p>\n

                1. (1)  Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 267.<\/p>\n

                2. (6)  Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 267.<\/p>\n

                3. (3)  Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 267.<\/p>\n

                4. (2)  Chase Briscoe (P), Toyota, 267.<\/p>\n

                5. (8)  Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 267.<\/p>\n

                6. (9)  Joey Logano (P), Ford, 267.<\/p>\n

                7. (12)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 267.<\/p>\n

                8. (32)  Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 267.<\/p>\n

                9. (16)  Ryan Preece, Ford, 267.<\/p>\n

                10. (34)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 267.<\/p>\n

                11. (31)  Austin Cindric, Ford, 267.<\/p>\n

                12. (11)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 267.<\/p>\n

                13. (28)  Noah Gragson, Ford, 267.<\/p>\n

                14. (24)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 267.<\/p>\n

                15. (19)  Erik Jones, Toyota, 267.<\/p>\n

                16. (18)  Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 267.<\/p>\n

                17. (33)  Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 267.<\/p>\n

                18. (4)  Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, 267.<\/p>\n

                19. (20)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 267.<\/p>\n

                20. (17)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 267.<\/p>\n

                21. (30)  Todd Gilliland, Ford, 267.<\/p>\n

                22. (7)  Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 267.<\/p>\n

                23. (15)  Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 267.<\/p>\n

                24. (23)  Zane Smith, Ford, 267.<\/p>\n

                25. (25)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 267.<\/p>\n

                26. (29)  Josh Berry, Ford, 266.<\/p>\n

                27. (27)  Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 266.<\/p>\n

                28. (21)  Cole Custer, Ford, 266.<\/p>\n

                29. (26)  John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 265.<\/p>\n

                30. (37)  JJ Yeley(i), Chevrolet, 263.<\/p>\n

                31. (38)  Katherine Legge, Chevrolet, 261.<\/p>\n

                32. (22)  Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, Accident, 252.<\/p>\n

                33. (13)  Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, Accident, 245.<\/p>\n

                34. (10)  Ty Gibbs, Toyota, Accident, 244.<\/p>\n

                35. (36)  Cody Ware, Ford, Accident, 243.<\/p>\n

                36. (5)  William Byron (P), Chevrolet, Accident, 235.<\/p>\n

                37. (35)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 233.<\/p>\n

                38. (14)  Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, Accident, 70.<\/p>\n

Average Speed of Race Winner:  137.131 mph.<\/p>\n

Time of Race:  2 Hrs, 55 Mins, 14 Secs. Margin of Victory:  1.533 Seconds.<\/p>\n

Caution Flags:  5 for 32 laps.<\/p>\n

Lead Changes:  21 among 11 drivers.<\/p>\n

Lap Leaders:   C. Briscoe (P) 1-35;C. Hocevar 36-39;*. Gilliland 40;W. Byron (P) 41-73;*. Reddick 74;W. Byron (P) 75-86;K. Larson (P) 87-119;*. Wallace 120-124;C. Custer 125;K. Larson (P) 126-172;D. Hamlin (P) 173;K. Larson (P) 174-213;D. Hamlin (P) 214-217;C. Hocevar 218-219;B. Keselowski 220-221;W. Byron (P) 222-231;K. Larson (P) 232-240;C. Briscoe (P) 241-243;J. Logano (P) 244;C. Briscoe (P) 245-263;D. Hamlin (P) 264-267.<\/p>\n

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Kyle Larson (P) 4 times for 129 laps; Chase Briscoe (P) 3 times for 57 laps; William Byron (P) 3 times for 55 laps; Denny Hamlin (P) 3 times for 9 laps; Carson Hocevar 2 times for 6 laps; * Bubba Wallace 1 time for 5 laps; Brad Keselowski 1 time for 2 laps; Joey Logano (P) 1 time for 1 lap; * Todd Gilliland 1 time for 1 lap; Cole Custer 1 time for 1 lap; * Tyler Reddick 1 time for 1 lap.<\/p>\n

Stage #1 Top Ten: 24,5,19,11,9,23,20,45,54,22<\/p>\n

Stage #2 Top Ten: 5,45,24,11,19,20,54,48,22,77<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS \u2013 Denny Hamlin scored an emotional victory and claimed a significant career milestone with a dramatic win in Sunday\u2019s NASCAR Cup Series\u2019 South Point 400 Playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Hamlin passed two cars in the final 10 laps, ultimately taking the lead from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":55259,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[41,67,16],"class_list":["post-55254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-denny-hamlin","tag-las-vegas-motor-speedway","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2240664209-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-enc","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55254"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55279,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55254\/revisions\/55279"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}