Pennzoil 400: Denny Hamlin earns emotional Las Vegas win

LAS VEGAS — Denny Hamlin dominated the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, earning an emotional 61st career NASCAR Cup Series win, which moves him solely into 10th on the all-time wins list at the premier level.

Hamlin, who was a top-two car in practice, also started on the front row (second) and led 134 laps en route to scoring 70 points at the 1.5-mile Nevada track on Sunday afternoon.

“It is just so satisfying — so gratifying,” Hamlin said about his 61st win. “You just never know what can happen year over year if you still have it or not. Obviously, I wasn’t totally locked in for the first few weeks. We’ve just been hitting our stride now. This is our bread and butter. These are the tracks that we know we can go win, and we executed, average, on the driver’s part. Not very good — but to still have the speed to go through the field. This is a team win. The team did it. It makes my job really easy when I can drive Toyotas that fast.”

The driver of the No. 11 Yahoo! Toyota had to overcome a pit-road speeding that sent him to 31st place after running inside the top five earlier in the race and despite the setback, Hamlin did not think his chances of winning were over.

“Any other race, or race track — I just felt like I had enough speed, regardless,” Hamlin said. “We had 150 or so laps to go at that point, plenty enough time. I think we got back to the front within hundred laps. Really proud of this whole Yahoo Toyota team, and I need to thank National Debt Relief, Progressive, Bob’s Discount Furniture, Sport Clips, King’s Hawaiian, Coca-Cola, Jordan Brand, Shady Rays and Logitech. This is whole team effort. I know that the record books will say my name, but I’m really, really proud to be a part of this team.”

This was also Hamlin’s first win since the tragic loss of his father, Dennis Hamlin, in December 2025. Denny, who earned his 60th career Cup Series win at Las Vegas last fall, dedicated the victory to his late father when he was battling an illness.

After getting win No. 61, Hamlin had his mother, Mary Lou Hamlin, right there celebrating with him and took a moment to remember his father.

Chase Elliott had one of the fastest cars in the final laps of the race, but the Hendrick Motorsports driver ran out of time to catch Hamlin for the victory. Although he did not get the win, the 2020 Cup Series champion leaves the track with his best finish of 2026 (second), and 40 points to keep him inside the top five in the Cup Series standings.

“I felt like our No. 9 NAPA Chevy was a little better there on the longer run,” Elliott said. “I thought Denny (Hamlin, race leader) was starting to fall off, and I was just trying to be as tidy as I could and give myself an opportunity. We just came up a little bit short. But honestly, with where we’ve been to how we ran today, it was not even comparable. As bummed as I am, I have to check myself back to reality and understand how big of an improvement that was from past races out there (at Las Vegas Motor Speedway). Just proud of this team. It’s a lot of fun to be right there in the mix with those guys that have won a lot of races out here. Excited about that and hopefully we can keep building on it.”

Elliott’s teammate, William Byron, also had his best run of the season. The driver of the No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet led 26 laps and picked up the Stage 2 victory, scoring 49 points after finishing third. Byron’s strong result helped him jump inside the top 10 of the Cup Series standings after a slow start to the 2026 season.

“Overall, I was really happy with today,” Byron said. ‘It was more of what we expect from ourselves. I was just pleased, really, from Stage 1 on. The balance was similar to what we’re used to. It had some differences, but it wasn’t anything that we couldn’t work through. Just really excited for the future mile-and-a-half races and just kind of dialing in that balance to get it a little bit closer. I’m proud of everyone on his No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet team. Everyone has really gone to work on this new Chevrolet car. It’s just a new season and we’re trying to get our balance right. I’m happy with it so far.”

Results from the 2026 Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway are listed below:

Impressive Days

Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson were two other guys in the field who were contending for the victory for most of the race. Bell, who started on pole and has the record for most poles at Las Vegas (four), finished fourth, earning the Stage 1 win, leading 31 laps and scoring 51 points.

“We weren’t at our best at the right time,” Bell said. “Whenever this Interstate Batteries Toyota team were at our best, I didn’t feel like I drove a very good race. At times, I felt like I had plenty of speed, and a great long run car in the first stage — we drove to the lead, and then I never executed the restarts very well. So, great finish, great day for JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing). Still looking for that first win though.”

Larson, who won the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race on Saturday, scored 48 points, led 62 laps, finished runner-up in both stages and seventh in the Cup Series race.

“In the second stage, we were getting really loose,” Larson said. “And then to start the final stage, I just didn’t get the launch I needed or the push I needed. I was side-by-side with them and then (Christopher) Bell had a big run behind me and it was going to be hard to block. They got by and I fell back to fourth, and then my balance was just kind of tight that run. I was hoping to get to a green flag stop, that way we could be in traffic and maybe my balance would be in a good spot and we would have a shot to race for the win. We had that caution just before the cycle was about to start. On the next run, I was just really loose, and I was just kind of hanging on.

“Overall, it was good to get another top-10 finish for this No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet team. I wish we would have had the balance in a little better place, but it was back and forth every run. All-in-all, it was a good day and I’m happy with it. Chase (Elliott) did an awesome job and William (Byron) was really fast. We had our moments of being fast, so we can look at it and keep building on it.”

With another strong performance, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs and his No. 54 team have clearly found the speed that had been missing from his car for quite some time.

Now, after Las Vegas, Gibbs has earned his third consecutive top-five finish after coming home fifth in Sin City, catapulting himself into the top 10 of the Cup Series standings after starting the season with 23rd- and 37th-place finishes.

“It was good,” Gibbs said. “Unfortunately, I sped, but I felt like we were really good all day. Thank you to my No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota team, and everyone that helps us out. It was a fun day.”

Other Race Facts

All three RFK Racing Fords finished inside the top 11 after a practice session that saw none of them inside the top 15. Chris Buescher went on to finish sixth, followed by Brad Keselowski (10th) and Ryan Preece (11th). The three RFK drivers are 13th or better in the NASCAR Cup Series standings after the fifth race of the 2026 season.

Since Christopher Bell did not win the 2026 Pennzoil 400, Las Vegas Motor Speedway still has not had the race winner lead the first lap of the event.

Bubba Wallace became the first driver to eclipse 50 stage points in 2026, after finishing fifth and fourth in both stages at Las Vegas. Wallace currently sits second in the Cup Series standings, with finishes of 10th, eighth, 11th, sixth and ninth to start his year strong.

According to statistician Daniel Céspedes, with his victory, Denny Hamlin has joined Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Richard Petty and Mark Martin as the only drivers to win five or more races after making their 700th Cup Series start. Hamlin also has the highest winning percentage after start No. 700, visiting Victory Lane five times in 19 starts.

Former Trackhouse Racing teammates Daniel Suárez and Ross Chastain had a post-race disagreement on pit road.

GRID RANKING

The 2026 GRID Ranking is the 10th year of the world’s premier motorsports ranking system and will be released on Sunday, April 5, 2026.

The official ranking includes drivers participating in seven racing series (NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, Formula E, WRC, Supercars, MotoGP). Each driver earns GRID Ratings, which help determine their seeding in the GRID Ranking.

Tyler Reddick currently leads the NASCAR GRID Rating and is still the projected leader of the GRID Ranking.

The next race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, March 22. Coverage will begin at 3 p.m. ET on FS1.

GRID Network