Posted on by Reid Spencer

MADISON, Ill. — Denny Hamlin spent much of his post-race press conference relishing the freedom he earned with Sunday’s victory in the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

With his ticket already punched for the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs’ Round of 12, Hamlin can race with abandon next Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, while others are scrambling to keep their title hopes alive.

Having secured his 59th career Cup victory at Gateway, Hamlin is free to pursue the distinction he covets most, a place in the top 10 all-time Cup race winners. With one more victory, Hamlin would tie Kevin Harvick for 10th on the career list.

MORE: Gateway results | Bristol schedule

Hamlin is a four-time winner at Bristol, with three of his victories coming in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race, which will serve as the Round of 16 elimination event on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

“I would love to get 60 at Bristol — that would be fantastic,” Hamlin said. “I’m not going to change my preparation for Bristol. All this win (at Gateway) did was just add work to the week, ’cause it allows us to now get ahead to the next round.

“There’s no way I’m willing to go to Bristol compromising my normal routine. I feel as though being locked in, how many are locked into the next round? Just two … I mean, you cannot race Bristol thinking about points. If you do, you can finish pretty good, but you’re not going to win the race, because you have to run that track at 10/10ths all the time.

“You’re going to be pushing at the edge, up against the wall. It’s people that have to chase points (who) are not going to be able to push it to the edge like they need to to win at that track. I think there’s a small group of us that have an advantage now going into next week, because that’s what it takes to win there. … That’s just a massive advantage. It’s hard for me to put it in words.”

RELATED: Petty: Hamlin may be last to hit 60 wins

A Denny Hamlin who thinks he has an edge is a dangerous Denny Hamlin. True, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Chase Briscoe, enjoys the same advantage, as does Kyle Larson, who is poised to clinch a Round of 12 berth unless absolute disaster strikes.

Briscoe won the playoff opener at Darlington, and Larson has a 60-point margin above the current elimination line, but neither seems as hungry for a Bristol win as Hamlin.

“I think there’s just some people that are different,” Hamlin said. “I talked about it at Dover in the post presser there (after his July 20 win) that I’m sure there’s someone more competitive than me. I just have never met them. …

“I just think that there’s a few people in every sport that are just built a little different, and they just won’t settle for anything but winning.”

Hamlin is approaching the end of his career. At 44 years old — soon to be 45 — he recently signed a contract extension limited to two years, declining to opt for more.

“I’m just not going to leave this sport on my deathbed, just leaking oil, running in the back of the pack,” Hamlin said. “I have way too much pride for that. I’m way too cocky for that. There’s just no way. I want to be able to win my last race.

“To do that, I’m going to have to retire when I’m racing like this.”

MORE: Gayle didn’t realize how driven Hamlin was

To the championship that has eluded him for 20 years, Hamlin seems almost indifferent. He prefers to measure his career with checkered flags.

“It’s always been about number of races,” Hamlin said. “The only one I thought about was this year and the Daytona 500, thinking that (I’m) probably only going to do this twice more. Brickyards, right? I haven’t won the freaking Brickyard (400). I’m going to have two more shots at it, and that’s it, to round this thing out.

“There are certain races that I do have countdowns for. Championships isn’t one of ’em. Obviously, it’s well-documented that I want to get the wins, and I feel like that will carry its weight long after.

“When you compare me to someone that’s maybe got one or two, maybe three championships, and half the wins, I don’t think that person’s better than I am.”

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

The results didn’t match the level of Christopher Bell’s performance Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway.

According to NASCAR Insights, Bell ranked as the best passer of the Enjoy Illinois 300, had the second-best speed and posted the third-best average running position in the second race of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Despite that, Bell took the checkered flag in seventh place.

MORE: Gateway results | Playoff pulse

Simply put, that wasn’t good enough for Bell.

“We just [expletive] ran seventh with the best car on the track!” Bell radioed after the checkered flag. “Every [expletive] week, it’s the same [expletive]. We’re the last car to pit road. I’m over it!”

A verbal explosion reminiscent of the pre-race pyrotechnics might seem like an overreaction, but a heat-of-the-moment outburst was warranted after a series of finishes that have seen the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota lagging behind its teammates on the results sheet. Bell’s most recent top-five finish on an oval came in a second-place effort at Kansas Speedway on May 11. He did win the exhibition NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway and has three top fives since then, but each of those three came at road courses: second-place showings at Mexico City and Watkins Glen in addition to a fifth-place finish at Sonoma.

Sitting eighth in the playoff standings and 32 points above the provisional cutline, Bell sees his team’s capabilities and knows they have the equipment to perform. But after watching teammates Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe finish first and second at Gateway — one week after Briscoe won the Aug. 31 playoff opener at Darlington Raceway — Bell is left yearning for more.

“I just think we are underperforming,” Bell told NBC Sports. “Clearly, the JGR Camrys are amazing. I don’t know. Our team cars are really good, and I felt like I had what I needed to race with them, and we finished seventh and they finished one-two. I honestly think the cars are as fast as I’ve had in my Cup career, and we are just not getting results out of it. That is a bummer.

“But on a lighter note, we had a good points day and were able to increase our buffer to the cutline, which is really good. I think from that standpoint, mission accomplished. We had a great DeWalt Camry. Just didn’t get the finish that we probably could’ve and should’ve.”

Bell and the Cup Series next head to Bristol Motor Speedway for the Round of 16 elimination race on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). Bell has scored five straight top 10s at the “Last Great Colosseum.”

Posted on by Zach Sturniolo

Chaos reigned under the Gateway Arch as the NASCAR Cup Series made its inaugural playoff appearance at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday, as the middle race of the Round of 16.

All that remains for 14 drivers now is the round’s finale, this year’s first elimination race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

WINNER

Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Joe Gibbs Racing’s stellar start to the postseason continues, with the organization 2-for-2 after Hamlin won Gateway to join teammate Chase Briscoe as the only two drivers locked into the Round of 12. Hamlin led a race-high 75 laps Sunday and has established himself as a real threat for the 2025 championship all over again with a season-best fifth victory.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Gateway

WHO’S HOT?

Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Logano charged onto the right side of the cutline Sunday with an impressive fifth-place run at Gateway, leaving the St. Louis-area track 21 points to the good. The three-time and defending Cup champion only led two laps but was a constant presence at the front of the field, a critical turnaround after a mediocre 20th-place day at Darlington in last week’s opener. At WWT Raceway, Logano boasted the day’s second-best average running position at 7.23, only behind Hamlin’s 5.54, and carries some needed momentum into Bristol, where he’s searching for his first top-20 finish since 2021.

Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota. Wallace was already in pretty good shape, up 25 points above the cutline after a sixth-place run at Darlington to open the postseason. But how about now? The Brickyard 400 winner left Gateway with double that cushion, sitting 50 points to the good in fourth place in the standings, second-best of the non-winners in the Round of 16. Wallace finished eighth at WWT Raceway and added 15 stage points to the tally, earning 10 of those and a playoff point by winning Stage 2. Nothing is guaranteed, but Wallace is in an incredible position to advance to the Round of 12 for the second time in his career.

WHO’S NOT?

Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. For the second week in a row, an early crash put Berry behind the wall, and this time, out of the race. Contact from Chase Elliott at Lap 36 sent Berry from the middle of a three-wide situation to spinning and into the SAFER barrier. The damage was too significant to repair, and Berry’s best chance to advance to the Round of 12 will be a victory at next week’s elimination race.

Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Execution thwarted what seemed to be a strong run in the making for Bowman. The No. 48 team didn’t have quite the same debacle as the 40-second pit stop that hindered them last week, but multiple issues on pit road did unravel what may have been a top-15 finish into a 26th-place result. The first problem came when the jack was dropped before the left-rear tire was secured at Lap 136. At Lap 207, Bowman was nabbed for speeding, sinking him to the rear of the field. Coupled with his Darlington finish of 31st, Bowman is now 35 points below the cutoff line entering Bristol.

BUBBLE WATCH

RANKDRIVER+/-
7Tyler Reddick+39
8Christopher Bell+32
9Chase Elliott+28
10Joey Logano+21
11Ross Chastain+19
12Austin Cindric+11
CUTLINE
13Austin Dillon-11
14Shane van Gisbergen-15
15Alex Bowman-35
16Josh Berry-45

NASCAR INSIGHTS

Christopher Bell expressed some notable frustration over his radio after crossing the finish line: “We just [expletive] ran seventh with the best car on the track.” To Bell’s chagrin, analytics prove his point. The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was ranked No. 1 in Passing Rating, according to NASCAR Insights, and scored second in speed. Bell ranked inside the top 10 in four of the five categories — seventh in pit crew and ninth in restarts — but ultimately placed just 15th on defense. Bell is optimistic in his team’s speed but is seeking better results: “I just think we’re underperforming,” Bell told NBC Sports. “… Our team cars are really good and I feel like I had what I needed to race with them, and we finished seventh and they finished 1-2.”

QUOTABLE

“We didn’t come here with a good race car for some reason. All of our cars were pretty off today; we just missed it. But this No. 3 Dow DayGlo Chevrolet team did a great job executing with what we had. We got stage points and finished the best we possibly could right there. We outran our day by a lot, so hard work and execution gives us a shot at Bristol (Motor Speedway). Just feel like we’ve missed some opportunities and could be in a better position, but we did all we could today.” — Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, after an 18th-place finish.

NEXT RACE

The first elimination of the 2025 season is here with 500 laps on deck in the Bristol Night Race. Third in the playoff standings and 60 points above the elimination line, Kyle Larson has dominated the Last Great Colosseum in each of his last two starts, winning both by leading a combined 873 of 1,000 laps. The 0.533-mile bullring will mark the end of four drivers’ championship hopes. For others, Bristol could represent a key step closer toward title glory.

Posted on by Press Release

SOUTH BOSTON, Virginia — In a winner-take-all race at South Boston Speedway, Peyton Sellers won the 100-lap Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division race that headlined Sunday’s Halifax County Farm Bureau Championship Night event and the track championship in one of the closest championship points battles in the track’s history.

In winning the 2025 South Boston Speedway Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division championship Sellers eclipsed the previous record of seven track championships held by David Blankenship who won his seventh division title in 1998.

“I still don’t feel I deserve to be in the same sentence with Blankenship and those guys that have done it,” Sellers remarked. “It’s been a long time coming. We’ve put a lot of effort into this track for a lot of years. We’ve tried to give it all we had every time.”

Sellers will receive $20,000 for winning the championship. The payout is part of over $75,000 in season-end bonuses that will be awarded to competitors at South Boston Speedway this season through a lucrative Championship Loyalty Bonus Program sponsored by Hitachi Energy and EMPOWER Broadband.

The unofficial points tally had Sellers finishing two points ahead of Trevor Ward who finished second to Sellers in the caution-free 100-lap race. Sellers and Ward entered the season’s final points race deadlocked at the top of the Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division point standings with Landon Pembelton sitting in third place, eight points back.

Pembelton opted to start at the rear of the field hoping he could rally through the field, win the race, earn bonus points toward the championship and top Sellers and Ward in the title chase. He finished fifth in the race, and unofficially finished third in the point standings.

Sellers started on the pole and led all 100 laps of the race. Ward stayed close on Sellers’ heels for most of the first half of the race, but Sellers increased his lead through the last 50 laps, building a lead of a quarter of a lap heading into the final 25 circuits.

Andrew Grady finished third behind Sellers and Ward, with Blake Stallings finishing fourth ahead of Pembelton.

Persistent rain forced track officials to reschedule the event from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon, and more rain Sunday pushed the start of the night’s racing action into Sunday night. Despite the weather and constantly changing track conditions Sellers and his team hit the right setup with his car.

“I think the rain played into our hand a little bit,” Sellers said. “H.C. (his brother and crew chief H.C. Sellers) has the ability to adapt on short notice and can come up with things quicker. This track changes so much with the weather and I think it played right into our hands tonight.”

Trevor Ward and Peyton Sellers
Trevor Ward (77) races under Peyton Sellers (26) during the 100-lap Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division race that highlighted Sunday’s Halifax County Farm Bureau Championship Sunday event at South Boston Speedway. (Photo: Joe Chandler/South Boston Speedway)

The weather worked to Ward’s detriment.

“I think the weather threw us a curveball,” Ward said after finishing 3.6 seconds behind Sellers in Sunday night’s race. “At the end of the day we had two teams going into this deal and one capitalized on it and another one didn’t. It’s been a hard-fought battle all year. I think the race fans got what they were looking for.”

Zach Peregoy won the 2025 Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division championship with an eighth-place finish in the 50-lap Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division race that was part of Sunday night’s Halifax County Farm Bureau Championship Night event.

The 2025 Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division championship is Peregoy’s first career division title. Peregoy will receive a $3,000 prize as part of over $75,000 in season-end bonuses that will be awarded to competitors at South Boston Speedway this season through a lucrative Championship Loyalty Bonus Program sponsored by Hitachi Energy and EMPOWER Broadband.

He entered the race with an 18-point lead over 14-year-old Tristan Brunelli.

The win in the 50-lap race was the first of the season for the 21-year-old Centerville, Arkansas resident. Garretson led the entire race, finishing 2.1 seconds ahead of runner-up Bob Davis. Sunday’s win made him the tenth different winner in the division this season.

Eddie Slagle finished third, Brunelli finished fourth and Jared Dawson completed the top five finishers.

B.J. Reaves won his second straight Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division championship while Dillon Davis won the 25-lap race that wrapped up the points season for the Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division. Davis’ win was his second victory of the season.

Reaves entered Saturday night’s race with a 25-point lead over Davis and needed only to start the 25-lap race to clinch the division title and a $1,000 payout as part of over $75,000 in season-end bonuses that will be awarded to competitors at South Boston Speedway this season through a lucrative Championship Loyalty Bonus Program sponsored by Hitachi Energy and EMPOWER Broadband.

Pole winner Andrew Turner finished three car lengths behind Davis with Scott Phillips finishing third. B.J. Reaves finished fourth, with his brother, Zach Reaves rounding out the top five finishers.

Jason DeCarlo finished second in Sunday night’s 20-lap Dollar General Hornets Division race and earned his second career Dollar General Hornets Division championship.

DeCarlo will receive a $500 award as part of over $75,000 in season-end bonuses that will be awarded to competitors at South Boston Speedway this season through a lucrative Championship Loyalty Bonus Program sponsored by Hitachi Energy and EMPOWER Broadband.

DeCarlo entered the season’s final points race with a 14-point cushion over second-place driver Landon Milam. Milam won the race, capturing a division-high sixth win and finishing 3.622 seconds ahead of DeCarlo.

Max Sangillo, Dustin Davis and Andrea Ruotolo rounded out the top five finishers.

Posted on by John Crane

MADISON, Ill. — Hendrick Motorsports’ early postseason struggles were well-documented heading into Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

The results spoke for themselves; zero Hendrick drivers finished inside the top 15 in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs opener at Darlington Raceway. To potentially make matters worse, Gateway followed, with the organization combining for only three top 10s in 12 starts there spanning 2022-24. And while the script wasn’t completely flipped at Gateway this time around, three Hendrick drivers concluded Sunday’s race with a top-12 finish (Chase Elliott third, William Byron 11th, Kyle Larson 12th), allowing for plenty of takeaways — both positive and negative — that the organization can use to improve over the duration of this season’s playoff slate.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Gateway

“We just had good pace,” Elliott said about his No. 9 Chevrolet. “At different times, the car did a lot of good stuff throughout the day. Gave me some opportunities to be on offense and just put ourselves in a good position. So, yeah, just a much better effort than I’ve been having.”

Pace paved the way for Hendrick to start Sunday’s contest. Two out of four Hendrick drivers — Larson in second and Byron in sixth — started the race inside the top 10, vital at a track where all prior race winners started from a top-10 starting position. The opening stage continued this pace; three Hendrick drivers (Larson in second, Byron in fourth and Elliott in 10th) finished inside the top 10 in Stage 1, and aggression in race positioning was readily apparent, including on Lap 36 when Elliott made contact with Josh Berry, resulting in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford spinning.

Aggression — both on and off pit road — continued through Stage 2 and the final stage. Larson’s No. 5 team used a four-tire stop during a Lap 76 yellow, resulting in a fourth-place finish to conclude Stage 2, which came after Larson turned Ryan Blaney on Lap 134. Elliott also finished inside the top 10 in Stage 2, further providing a spark Hendrick could potentially use as the race continued.

That is, until in-race turbulence came to a head during the final stage. With 50 laps remaining, all four Hendrick cars were inside the top 20. A Ty Dillon caution on Lap 208, however, jumbled strategy, preventing the Hendrick cavalcade from potentially running a fuel approach to the front of the racing field.

chase elliott and william byron at gateway
Chris Graythen | Getty Images

“You had guys stay in, trying to stretch it on gas,” Elliott said, “and I think that we had just run so long that they were afraid that they were just going to get ate up, like, ultimately the 6 (Brad Keselowski) did, so it’s just part of the game.”

This jumble wasn’t the only frustration. For Byron and Alex Bowman, issues in other areas prevented possible gains.

“Just need to get a better balance on our race car,” Byron said. “Seemed like we had pretty good pace, but we just couldn’t get it balanced. So it’s really hard to see what kind of pace we had.”

“It was just really poor execution on all angles today,” said Bowman, who struggled on both the 1.25-mile track and pit road, finishing 26th. “It was a bummer. I thought our No. 48 Ally Chevrolet was OK once we were kind of towards the front half. We just struggled in the back. Super frustrating, but all we can do is keep digging. There’s a lot of people working really hard to continue to be better. I thought, race car-wise, we were heading in the right direction once we had some air on it. We just have to go to Bristol (Motor Speedway) and go to work.”

MORE: Cup Series standings | Cup Series schedule

In the end, three Hendrick machines finished inside the top 15, a respectable turnaround following Darlington. Entering the final Round of 16 challenge Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App), three Hendrick drivers (Larson at plus-60, Byron at plus-39 and Elliott at plus-28) sit with double-digit playoff points, and while the buffer is still not comfortable for some, it’s progress compared to the team’s showing at the “Lady in Black.”

Perhaps there is even more to Hendrick’s Sunday showing than you’d think. With Gateway viewed as a critical proving ground for the team in its trek toward honing its flat-track notebook, Hendrick’s St. Louis performance — though not as eye-popping as it could’ve been — might be the stepping stone toward mastering future flat tracks on the postseason docket, including New Hampshire Motor Speedway in two weeks and then Phoenix Raceway, the championship bout.

“I definitely think we took a massive step in the right direction,” Larson said. “Would love to get to Phoenix to get the opportunity to see. Obviously, we’re going to race Phoenix, but would love to race it in the final four. Proud of my team. It’s been a struggle here and on this particular style track, but it’s really been a struggle for us at a lot of places lately. Not the finish, but I feel like we were back to looking like the 5 team today.”

“Hopefully, it helps us out at Phoenix, and hopefully we’re still a part of the game to make it matter,” Elliott said.

Posted on by Dustin Albino

MADISON, Ill. — Knowing Team Penske’s success through three previous trips at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, Joey Logano had a big opportunity in Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300.

Logano entered the middle race in the Round of 12 three points below the elimination line heading to a shorter, flatter track like Gateway where Penske demands excellence. His goal was to leave Gateway with at least a 20-point cushion on the bubble going into the Round of 16 finale at a treacherous Bristol Motor Speedway.

Mission accomplished.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Gateway

The No. 22 Ford was a factor for the bulk of the 240 laps as three-time championship-winning crew chief Paul Wolfe aced the strategy. After collecting eight stage points in Stage 2, Logano was in position to race Denny Hamlin for what could have been a battle for the victory during a cycle of green-flag pit stops. Some drivers were hoping to stretch their fuel tanks to the finish, but aborted that plan when Ty Dillon had a brake rotor explode with 32 laps remaining.

Along with Hamlin and Chase Briscoe, Logano was in prime position for the sprint to the finish, ultimately losing a pair of positions on the final restart to Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney and dropping to fifth at the checkered flag. It was the reigning champion’s fourth top-five finish of the season — and coupled by his fourth-place showing at Richmond Raceway, it was Logano’s second straight on a track comparable to Phoenix Raceway, host of the 2025 championship race.

“I thought we had a shot at it and did a good job as a team and put ourselves in position,” Logano said. “Paul had some good pit calls, the team did a good job on pit road keeping us in the hunt and potentially having a shot to win the race.

“Just got beat into the corner on a restart. I thought I’d be able to drive away, but Toyota has smoke right now. I lost control of it and hounded the 11 for a while and hoped we could get him on the cycle and wasn’t able to do that. The last restart, lost the balance a little too much. We did a good job executing today. Wish it was a win, but overall another top five at St. Louis is good and we will take that and move on.”

ANONYMOUS POLL: Drivers vote Wolfe most impactful crew chief

Logano has four top-five finishes in as many trips to St. Louis, host of his best average finish at any venue on the circuit (3.5). Admittedly, Team Penske is trailing the Toyotas in the speed department, as the manufacturer earned its 200th Cup Series victory on Sunday with Hamlin hoisting the trophy.

“They are ridiculously fast,” Logano said of Toyota winning the opening two postseason races. “They have a lot of grip and a lot of horsepower — a lot. We’ve got a lot of work to do to catch up. They are really, really fast and we have to be absolutely perfect in every category to contend, and we need them to make mistakes, which they do. We have potential to do it; it’s just going to be challenging.”

Logano jumped three positions on the playoff grid to 10th, with a 21-point buffer over Austin Dillon, who is the first driver outside and looking in. Logano won’t be losing sleep this week but also knows how quickly that gap can evaporate in the elimination race at Bristol.

The unknowns of a new Goodyear Racing tire debuting at Bristol, the possibility of an unseasonably cool race and how the PJ1 traction compound affects the racing groove are worrisome for Logano. But it’s the same circumstances for everyone.

“All we can focus on is trying to bring the best car we can, qualify well and score stage points,” Logano said. “That’s the only way you can feel decent about it.

“It’s not comfortable, but it’s about getting to the next round. You get to the next round and get another reset and get after it again. I feel better than we did after Darlington. We just have to go do it again when we go to Bristol.”

Posted on by Staff Report

Denny Hamlin earned the 200th NASCAR Cup Series victory for Toyota by winning the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway on Sunday afternoon.

The milestone triumph marks Joe Gibbs Racing’s 166th for the Toyota brand. Kyle Busch earned the company’s first victory in March 2008 at EchoPark Speedway — then known as Atlanta — driving the No. 18 Toyota for JGR and later scored Toyota’s 100th Cup victory at Pocono Raceway in July 2017.

MORE: Race results | At-track photos

“It’s a testament to what’s gone in over the last 19 years,” Tyler Gibbs, president of Toyota Racing Development, said Sunday. “The team we have at TRD, the team we have at TMNA (Toyota Motor North America), the team we have on the track. When you look at JGR, 23XI, Furniture Row, Red Bull and Michael Waltrip Racing combining for over 200 wins is just incredible for us.”

Hamlin has been part of many historic moments for Toyota, driving a Camry in all but 79 of his 713 (including through Gateway) Cup starts. Now tied with Busch for the most Toyota wins in the Cup Series with 56, the significance of delivering another such moment isn’t lost on Hamlin, who has raced at JGR since late 2005 and in their Toyotas since 2008/

“It’s super special because they’ve been such a big partner of Joe Gibbs Racing for such a long time,” said Hamlin, who co-owns fellow Toyota team 23XI Racing. “And certainly, I was worried when we switched over 17 years ago from Chevy to Toyota, but obviously it was a big leap of faith by everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing and the drivers were kind of like innocent bystanders in it. We were gonna live and die by those decisions that JGR made on that day, and it turned out to be the best partnership that they could have imagined, being the top team. Now that I’ve got 23XI, I’ve formed a different relationship with them. And so I’ve got Toyota running through my blood.”

“The next few wins — knock on wood, if I can get some — are gonna be very, very special to me. So this is the next step to getting that done.”

The Cup Series returns to action at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

Posted on by Reid Spencer

MADISON, Ill. — In a race that featured a strange brew of divergent strategies, pole winner Denny Hamlin claimed his series-best fifth victory of the season and advanced to the Round of 12 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Finishing 1.620 seconds ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe in front of a sellout crowd, Hamlin won Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway to earn his first victory at the 1.25-mile track and 59th of his career—11th all-time and one win short of Kevin Harvick in 10th.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Gateway

Hamlin also delivered the 200th victory for Toyota. After taking the checkered flag, the 44-year-old driver had some choice words for his detractors in the grandstands.

“You can either get on the bandwagon or get run over by it,” Hamlin told the crowd, generating another chorus of boos.

But the reality is that Hamlin announced emphatically his stature as a serious contender for the championship that has eluded him during his 20-year Cup career.

“Yeah, it’s so big for everyone at Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing,” Hamlin said. “Progressive Toyota was great there at the end. So happy to get this victory. My dad’s not feeling well at home. Just shout-out to him…

“Fantastic day. Man, couldn’t be better.”

Before the race, grand marshal Bill Murray, who typically plays in Hamlin’s annual golf tournament, leaned into the No. 11 Toyota and talked to the driver.

“Yeah, I just told him to talk to the guys behind me and make sure they stay behind me the rest of the race,” Hamlin quipped. “We made that happen.”

SHOP: Denny Hamlin winner gear

Both Hamlin and Briscoe pitted early during a cycle of green-flag pit stops with roughly 65 laps left in the race. After Ty Dillon’s contact with the outside wall caused the 10th and final caution on Lap 209 — effectively negating the strategy of drivers who were stretching fuel to the end of the event — Hamlin passed Brad Keselowski for the lead moments after the subsequent restart on Lap 216 and held it the rest of the way.

Slowed by an issue with the left-rear tire on pit road, Briscoe recovered to secure the runner-up spot.

“I would say our strength was our speed,” Briscoe said. “We had a really good Bass Pro Shops Toyota. Our weakness was just the sloppiness, right? Whether it was me behind the wheel or pit road. I don’t know what the left-rear issue was.”

The second race of the 2025 playoffs widened the chasm between the top 12 in the standings and the four drivers below the current elimination line.

Austin Cindric came home 19th and held onto 12th on the playoff grid, 11 points ahead of 13th-place Austin Dillon. Four-time winner Shane van Gisbergen finished 25th after a Lap 156 spin and fell 15 points below the elimination line.

Continued pit-road woes left Alex Bowman (26th) 35 points behind Cindric. An early crash relegated Josh Berry to a second straight last-place finish that left him 45 points below the cut line, almost certainly needing a victory in Saturday’s Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway to advance to the Round of 12.

MORE: Berry out after Stage 1 crash

At the opposite end of the spectrum, other playoff contenders solidified their positions in the standings. Briscoe, already exempt into the next round on the strength of last Sunday’s win at Darlington, won the first stage.

Bubba Wallace took the honors in Stage 2 on the way to an eighth-place result. Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano ran third, fourth and fifth, respectively, as both Hendrick Motorsports and Team Penske reasserted their strength after disappointing performances at Darlington.

For Logano, the inaugural Cup winner at Gateway in 2022, the top-five finish was his fourth straight, a feat no other driver in the series has been able to accomplish.

Christopher Bell ran consistently in the top 10, finished seventh and leaves the St. Louis-area track 32 points above the elimination line. Hendrick Motorsports drivers Kyle Larson and William Byron were 11th and 12th, respectively, and are third and sixth in the playoff standings, needing only to avert disaster at Bristol to advance the Round of 12.

Larson, however, was the source of antagonism for Blaney. On Lap 135, five circuits before the end of Stage 2, Larson charged into Turns 3 and 4, slipped up the track and sent Blaney spinning.

MORE: Blaney, Larson tangle in Stage 2

Though Blaney recovered to finish fourth, he was not happy with the incident.

“I just wanted to know what I did to deserve it,” Blaney said after talking to Larson on pit road. “He just said he made a mistake. That’s fine. Make mistakes. But like at the end of the day, I still got turned. Came from all the way up the bottom of the race track, hit me in the left rear. I know he most likely didn’t mean to do it, but it happened anyway.

“That’s one I’ve got to remember.”

Larson was duly apologetic.

“I just told him I messed up,” Larson said. “I wasn’t meaning obviously to go in there and hit him. The lap before I had got in there and got inside of him, slid up, got to his door, got him tight, got to where I could race him down the frontstretch. I was just trying to do that again. I was a little further back into (Turn) 3 than I was the lap before. Just misjudged the point of where I (was) going to get next to him and tuck in. I just clipped him.

“Yeah, all on me. But wasn’t intentional at all. I hope he understands that. Obviously, I hurt his day where he could have gained more points.”

The Cup Series’ next race is Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) at Bristol Motor Speedway, where four drivers will be eliminated from playoff contention after the 500-lap event.

Notes: Post-race technical inspection was completed without issue, confirming Hamlin as the race winner. Competition officials indicated that no cars would travel back to the NASCAR Research & Development Center for further inspection. … John Hunter Nemechek was the highest finishing non-playoff driver in sixth… Hamlin led a race-high 75 laps to 73 for Wallace… There were 15 lead changes among nine drivers… The race featured 10 cautions for 52 laps.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on by Dustin Albino

MADISON, Ill. — After waiting two minutes for Kyle Larson to speak with reporters, Ryan Blaney butted in for clarification. He wanted an answer for a Lap 135 skirmish with the No. 5 Chevrolet during Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

“I just asked what I did to deserve getting turned,” Blaney stated. “He said he made a mistake, and I don’t think he did it on purpose, but at the end of the day I got spun around.”

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Gateway

The two former Cup Series champions had a hard-nosed battle for fifth position, spanning multiple laps. They jockeyed back and forth before Blaney got ahead. Larson dove off into Turn 3 and washed up the race track and tagged the left-rear quarter panel of the No. 12 car. Blaney spun to bring out the caution.

“I misjudged it,” Larson said. “The lap before, I went in, I was able to get to his door and get him tight. The next time, I was trying to do the same thing and wasn’t going to get there and was going to tuck back in line and just clipped him. He should be upset. I just misjudged it.”

Believing he had the faster car, Larson wanted to jump on the opportunity to get ahead of Blaney. Hounding the No. 12 car for several laps, frustration grew but he ultimately mistimed his speed in the center of the corner.

“It was frustrating, but it didn’t warrant me to get into him or anything like that,” Larson added. “The first time I got to his inside, I was expecting him to not necessarily let me go and he left me room, but I ran into [Turn] 1 hard and he chased me in and I was sideways underneath him and was kind of like, ‘OK, we’re going to be racing hard for this position going forward’ — and we did. It led to me making contact with him a few laps later.

“It wasn’t anything malicious and I probably hurt his second stage and potentially his finish, but it wasn’t on purpose.”

After a quick stoppage of action, Larson earned seven stage points by finishing fourth in a one-lap dash to conclude Stage 2. Blaney missed out on valuable stage points, dropping to 17th in the running order.

With strategy all over the board and having a hot rod, Blaney drove back to fourth position at the checkered flag. Larson was on the wrong side of a late caution with 32 laps remaining when Ty Dillon had a brake rotor explode. Championship-winning crew chief Cliff Daniels called the No. 5 car to pit road during the caution, believing tires would play a role in the outcome. Larson drove up to finish just 12th despite leading 52 laps.

WATCH: Blaney: ‘That’s one I’ve got to remember’

Rebounding to fourth notched Blaney’s 11th top-five finish of the season, one shy of his career high of 12 (2022 and 2024) and tied with Larson for third-most this year. Had it not been for Blaney’s late charge, the chat with Larson may have gone differently, Blaney noted.

“If we (hadn’t) recovered as well as we did, it probably would have been a different conversation,” he said. “I just tried to get an understanding (why) he came from all the way at the bottom of the race track all the way up and hit me in the left rear, so I was just trying to get a clear understanding of that.

“Even though it wasn’t done with malicious intent, I’ll still remember it. I still got the [expletive] end of it and got turned around and had to come from the back. You remember stuff like that. It’s not anything grudgey or something like that; it’s just those racing situations that you think about the next time you run with that person. You probably run them a little tighter and don’t give them as much space. There is no ill-will or anything; it’s just racing people how I get raced.”

Both drivers are in solid points positions entering the Round of 16 elimination race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). Larson has the biggest cushion — 60 points — of drivers who haven’t advanced via victories. Blaney is fifth on the playoff grid, 42 points above the line.

Posted on by Zack Albert

Bill Davis, a longtime team owner who won in all three NASCAR national series including triumphs in the Daytona 500 and Southern 500, has died. He was 74.

Bill Davis Racing fielded cars for multiple NASCAR Hall of Famers, including Mark Martin, Bobby Labonte and Jeff Gordon. All five of his Cup Series victories came with Ward Burton driving the team’s flagship No. 22 entry, including the Southern 500 at Darlington in 2001 and the “Great American Race” the next season.

Davis’ teams also won 11 races in what’s now called the Xfinity Series and 24 times in the Craftsman Truck Series, a tenure that included the 2008 championship with driver Johnny Benson Jr.

William A. Davis III was born January 18, 1951 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He followed his father’s path into the trucking industry, starting his career as a Peterbilt salesman before forming his own company in 1975 in Batesville. Along the way, Davis competed in motocross events at a local and eventually national level.

Through his trucking connections, Davis crossed paths with Julian Martin and his son Mark, then an aspiring racer with shared Arkansas roots. Davis supported the young Martin’s exploits in the American Speed Association (ASA) through the early 1980s and fielded cars for him in Xfinity competition once Martin partnered with Jack Roush in the Cup Series in 1988. Davis’ jump to NASCAR would last another 30 years, bringing him and his wife, Gail, to North Carolina in 1990.

Davis later gave Gordon — then a little-known but highly regarded sprint-car driver — his first shot at a NASCAR career in the Xfinity Series. Gordon won that circuit’s Rookie of the Year award driving the Bill Davis Racing No. 1 Ford in 1991, then pairing with Davis for their first NASCAR wins the next season.

Davis had planned to go to the Cup Series level with Gordon in 1993, with the team close to reaching a deal for sponsorship from Target. After a promising meeting the preceding May with Target executives, Gordon told Davis that he had signed a contract with Rick Hendrick and Chevrolet on the elevator ride out of the company’s Minneapolis headquarters.

That set Gordon — then a 20-year-old prodigy — on a career-long journey with Hendrick Motorsports, where he scored 93 wins, four Cup championships and is now vice chairman. Davis instead signed Labonte, giving another future Hall of Famer his start in the rookie class of ’93. Davis later downplayed the bitterness he carried over Gordon’s departure, saying the exposure from their successes together helped him to establish his stock-car ownership roots.

Davis first paired with Burton in 1995, forming a long-running union that produced the first Cup Series win for both that fall at Rockingham Speedway. Burton stayed with Davis as the team eventually expanded to two cars and switched manufacturers from Pontiac to Dodge, and two crown-jewel wins followed — including the team’s most prestigious at Daytona.

“This just adds so much credibility,” Davis told the Associated Press in 2002. “It doesn’t get any bigger than winning the Daytona 500. Hopefully, it earns us the respect we think we’ve lacked down through the years.”

Davis sold his NASCAR operations after the 2008 season, eventually moving back to Batesville to focus on his trucking company and expand into the cattle industry. He was inducted to the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.

Bill and Gail Davis celebrate with Ward Burton at Daytona International Speedway in 2002
Jonathan Ferrey | Allsport, Getty Images