Unlike the two nights before, the NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway didn’t see as many cautions on track. Not that it wasn’t a thought on the minds of the drivers. Especially after Saturday night’s Xfinity Series race. The actions of some drivers on Saturday forced NASCAR to warn drivers before Sunday’s Cook Out 400. Denny Hamlin and the rest of the field kept things as clean as possible.
Sure, bumping and banging will happen on a short-track, but nothing like Saturday night played out luckily in this race. As Fox Sports’ Mike Joy so fondly called it, the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville was far and away better than the “dumpster fire” of Saturday night’s Xfinity race.
The @FOXNASCAR booth sounds off on the end of the Xfinity Series race last night. Pretty strong takes from all three.
Mike Joy: "I said the Xfinity Series was a dumpster fire, it's not. A dumpster fire is contained, and that series is not right now."
Kevin Harvick: "It's not… pic.twitter.com/yD6IyWL05T— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) March 30, 2025
READ MORE: Austin Hill Wins Xfinity Series Race at Martinsville That Leaves Ugly Stain on Sport
Denny Hamlin Gets First Martinsville Win in 10 Years, Whiles Others Leave Angry
Denny Hamlin played the long game, much like he has throughout his career at the short tracks. Sure, he didn’t put his No. 11 Toyota upfront at the beginning of the race as teammate Christopher Bell sat on the pole, and Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott certainly looked like an early contender to carry on the HMS domination in the Spring Martinsville race.
Bell led the first 23 laps before Elliott was able to slip past, only for the caution to come out for debris.
The fans are on their feet! @chaseelliott moves to the lead at @MartinsvilleSwy. pic.twitter.com/p257KxAjJW
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 30, 2025
Tires and pit stops were quickly showing they would make or break your day. The early caution put some other faces up front, including the likes of Josh Berry and Joey Logano. While Hamlin, Elliott, and others had to fight through traffic. Fighting through traffic got a little wild, as the drivers had their elbows out trying to make up track position after the next restart.
Elbows out! pic.twitter.com/OczIxNP5zj
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 30, 2025
The next incident to occur saw Carson Hocevar give a tap to Chris Buescher and sent his No. 17 around, which brought about a dash to the end of stage one, that saw Joey Logano stay out and take advantage off.
Trouble for the No. 17 on the frontstretch. pic.twitter.com/7nPIH7hVaz
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 30, 2025
That’s when some car power issues started to show up once again within the Team Penske organization, as Josh Berry had his car lose power. This would continue throughout the race, as Austin Cindric eventually had to retire from the race because the team didn’t have any extra batteries left.
READ MORE: Josh Berry Takes Advantage of Top Contenders Mistakes, Earns First Cup Win at Las Vegas
Business Picks Up, and Hamlin Takes Over
The second stage is when Denny Hamlin started to show why he was going to be hard to beat at Martinsville. Sure, he hadn’t won at the ‘paperclip’ in 10 years. The battle between Hamlin and Elliott for the race lead was quite an interesting moment because that last win for the Virginia native at this track was also when Chase made his Cup debut in 2015.
That No. 11 is really good here. @dennyhamlin is the leader at @MartinsvilleSwy. pic.twitter.com/ktWnJfELOh
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 30, 2025
As the closing laps of the second stage played out, Elliott was starting to show he could rip the corners like NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon used to do. Run a little bit of a higher line to wrap the corners. Sure, this seemed like a good opportunity for Elliott to get his No. 9 Chevy back to victory lane, but Hamlin was the best car all day.
Final Stage Pits Tyler Reddick versus Ty Gibbs
While Denny Hamlin was busy taking care of business at the front, others farther back in the field took it upon themselves to make things interesting. In many cases, three-wide racing didn’t end well for the guy on the outside. Austin Cindric, AJ Allmendinger, and Riley Herbst made heavy contact early in the final stage.
Racing three-wide at @MartinsvilleSwy never ends well. pic.twitter.com/Pnq17RoJOB
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 30, 2025
It was also during the final stage that a pair of Toyota drivers had a major disagreement on the race track. As Tyler Reddick gave Ty Gibbs a boot that sent him around. Nothing like a little hard contact at Martinsville.
The No. 54 goes around! pic.twitter.com/Yc0ozFwtUA
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 30, 2025
Though Gibbs wasn’t too fond of what happened, especially since he has had a horrible start to the 2025 season. Gibbs had a warning for Reddick, which could be heard over his radio following the incident, according to NASCAR.com contributor Dustin Albino.
” Free this f***ing thing up. It doesn’t roll the center at all. Keep me away from that little f***** after race, too,” Gibbs said.
A much better day for Gibbs was taken away by one of his Toyota teammates. That just has to be frustrating at this point. I guess for JGR, it was a good thing Denny Hamlin won, and Bell was able to run second.
Denny Hamlin vs. Everybody
The final run to the finish went green, and despite the top four all getting close together as they got to lap traffic, Hamlin was able to slip away and win by well over three seconds. The win was Denny’s 55th of his career. It also moved him into a tie with Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace.
That, however, wasn’t his biggest message when he climbed from his No. 11 Progressive Toyota. He held up a flag that said 11 Against the World. Living up to his heel attitude. For a guy that had won at Martinsville in a decade and has been at the ire of fans for the last several years, there were a lot of cheers from the crowd.
The No. 11 team has a new motto. pic.twitter.com/aeu9TXcsup
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 30, 2025
Will it get him a Championship finally? Who knows, but Hamlin proved he’s not someone to forget about. It was nice to see Reddick and Gibbs have a little chat following the race. It also appears that Gibbs has finally grown up as he kept it civil.
Tyler Reddick and Ty Gibbs talk it over after the race: pic.twitter.com/BcZ8uSyUN2
— Dirty Mo Media (@DirtyMoMedia) March 30, 2025
The drama-filled sport that is NASCAR heads to Darlington Raceway next. Can’t wait to see some sharp-looking throwback schemes get torn up. Welcome back to victory lane, Denny Hamlin.
READ NEXT: My Favorite Darlington Throwback Paint Schemes
Featured Image Credit: Jared C. Tilton, Getty Images. 3/30/2025
