Chase Elliott has dealt with a frustrating start to the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. Jeff Gordon addressed those frustrations last week.
On Tuesday, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer appeared on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and addressed the penalty.
Right behind him will be a pair of teammates with Alex Bowman (19.738) set to start third a week after winning a pole at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Kyle Larson was next in fourth with a lap of 19.754 seconds with William Byron, the event's defending winner, earning the 10th spot (19.781).
The NASCAR Cup Series has completed the first short track race of the year, with Denny Hamlin winning Sunday's Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway. Hamlin led 274 laps to earn his sixth career victory at his home track in Martinsville.
In a renewal of his mastery of one of NASCAR's original racetracks, Denny Hamlin dominated the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway to earn his first win of the 2025 season and win No. 55 of his NASCAR Cup Series career.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver will lead the field in the Cook Out 400, currently scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. Sunday.
Denny Hamlin earned his 55th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, moving into a tie with Rusty Wallace for 11th on the all-time win list in NASCAR’s premier series. With his first victory in just over 10 years at the 0.526-mile oval, Hamlin snapped a 31-race winless skid that dated to April 2024 at Dover.
Denny Hamlin led 274 of the 400 laps during the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Sunday. He snapped a decade-long drought at the track.
Driving the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Hamlin ended a 19-race winless streak, per NBC Sports. This victory marks his first at Martinsville since March 29, 2015, and extends his lead as the active driver with the most wins at the track with six.
Denny Hamlin led 274 laps and dominated Martinsville. He held off Christopher Bell with about 80 laps to go, but Hamlin was able to drive away from his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate and earn his sixth victory at Martinsville Speedway and 55th win in his NASCAR Cup Series career.