October 13, 2025

Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin won Sunday's South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but not in dominating fashion, as he led only nine laps in the event. Hamlin started in the pole position for the race, but did not maintain the lead as he botched the opening restart. This mistake sent Hamlin back to fighting for a top-5 spot, but he eventually finished the first stage in fourth. In the second stage, Hamlin kept his car clean, executed pit stops without mistakes, and ran in the top five during the entire stage outside of pit stops. Hamlin wound up fourth at the end of the stage. In the final stage, Hamlin quietly rode between the top 10 and top five through most of the stage, keeping pace with the top drivers at the front of the pack. During the last two cautions of the race, Hamlin took four tires and took advantage of them to rise back up to third with under 10 laps to go. Hamlin chased down Kyle Larson, the dominant driver of the day, and passed him while he was trying to overtake Chase Briscoe. Instead, Hamlin went on to pass Briscoe and lead the final four laps to claim victory at Vegas. This was Hamlin's 60th career Cup Series win, second at Las Vegas, and also earned him an automatic berth to the championship round at Phoenix, where he will compete for the 2025 Cup Series championship.--Sean Engel - RotoBaller
Source: NASCAR.com