At the end of a charge from third to first in the closing laps, Denny Hamlin drove away to a milestone victory that may serve as one of the most important of his entire career, winning the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to earn his sixth win of the 2025 season and the 60th win of his Cup Series career. Hamlin’s 60th win ties him with Kevin Harvick for 10th on NASCAR’s all-time wins list, and it also secures him a spot in the Championship 4, ensuring him the opportunity to race for the Cup title that has long eluded him in the season finale at Phoenix Raceway.
Sunday’s race, and the complexion of the championship picture, swung dramatically in a sequence of events that began with 32 laps to go. Only a few laps after losing the lead to Kyle Larson on a bobble in turns 1 and 2, William Byron was running second and trying to run Larson back down for the lead, only to be caught completely unaware of the lapped car of Ty Dillon peeling off to come to pit road in front of him. Byron ended up slamming into the back of DIllon’s car at nearly full speed, taking him out in a grinding crash and bringing out the caution.
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Two playoff drivers, Chase Briscoe and Joey Logano, elected to gamble on the ensuing round of pit stops by taking two tires, and a multi-car crash on the restart helped their gambit by creating just a 14-lap run to the finish. But the four tires that Hamlin took would eventually win out: After taking second at the end of several laps battling with Kyle Larson, Hamlin quickly drove down Briscoe and powered around his outside with four laps to go, driving away to earn a win with many different layers to it.
Normally a driver who relishes the role of heel and instigator, Hamlin was noticeably emotional over his team radio and then on the frontstretch after the checkered flag. Emotion which came out, in part, given that his father Dennis has been ill.
“This is the point where I kind of give the fans some shit, but not today. I appreciate all of you so much,” Hamlin told the crowd before speaking to USA. “… [Crew chief Chris Gabehart] did an amazing job on that final stop getting the car just right, and I just held it down. That’s all I could do is just go for it. I felt like I had nothing to lose. Just go for it and try to punch the ticket now. And, man, this one feels great.”
Larson and Christopher Bell made it past Briscoe in the final laps to finish second and third, with Briscoe coming home fourth and Tyler Reddick finishing fifth. Logano would parlay his strategy into a sixth place finish, with Alex Bowman seventh, Kyle Busch eighth, Ryan Preece ninth and Brad Keselowski rounding out the top 10.
The race, of course, could have been far different: William Byron led three times for 55 laps and looked destined to be a central character in the race for the win, but he was instead left to lament his accident with Ty Dillon, in which Byron said he received no indication that the No. 10 Chevrolet in front of him was coming to pit road.
“I never saw him wave. I didn’t see any indication that he was pitting, and it was probably 12 to 15 laps after we had pitted, so I thought the cycle [of green flag stops] was fully over,” Byron told USA. “Nobody said anything to my spotter from what I know. I had zero idea. … I was watching him thinking ‘okay, he missed the bottom a little bit here’ and then he just started slowing, and I had no idea what was going on.
“I’m just devastated. I had no indication, so I obviously wouldn’t have just driven full speed into the back of him like that.”
Byron was left with a 36th place finish, just two spots ahead of fellow playoff driver Ryan Blaney, who saw his race end after just 70 laps when he blew a tire and pounded the wall in turns 3 and 4. Chase Elliott also had major problems after his pit crew was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation, but he was able to eventually get back on the lead lap and salvage an 18th place finish.
As Hamlin now automatically advances to the Championship 4, Kyle Larson (+45), Christopher Bell (+20) and Chase Briscoe (+15) now leave Las Vegas on the plus side of the cut line to join him there. Byron (-15), Elliott (-23), Logano (-24) and Blaney (-31) now trail the cut line, but do so entering next weekend’s middle race of the Round of 8 at Talladega Superspeedway — a place where much can change and change quickly.
South Point 400 results
- #11 – Denny Hamlin
- #5 – Kyle Larson
- #20 – Christopher Bell
- #19 – Chase Briscoe
- #45 – Tyler Reddick
- #22 – Joey Logano
- #48 – Alex Bowman
- #8 – Kyle Busch
- #60 – Ryan Preece
- #6 – Brad Keselowski
- #2 – Austin Cindric
- #17 – Chris Buescher
- #4 – Noah Gragson
- #47 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- #43 – Erik Jones
- #71 – Michael McDowell
- #35 – Riley Herbst (R)
- #9 – Chase Elliott
- #16 – A.J. Allmendinger
- #99 – Daniel Suarez
- #34 – Todd Gilliland
- #23 – Bubba Wallace
- #1 – Ross Chastain
- #38 – Zane Smith
- #3 – Austin Dillon
- #21 – Josh Berry
- #7 – Justin Haley
- #41 – Cole Custer
- #42 – John Hunter Nemechek
- #44 – J.J. Yeley
- #78 – Katherine Legge
- #77 – Carson Hocevar
- #88 – Shane van Gisbergen (R)
- #54 – Ty Gibbs
- #51 – Cody Ware
- #24 – William Byron
- #10 – Ty Dillon
- #12 – Ryan Blaney
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