South Point 400: Denny Hamlin earns 60th Cup Series win at Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS — Denny Hamlin earned a historic 60th career win in the NASCAR Cup Series, as the Joe Gibbs Racing driver made a late charge to the front at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on an emotional day with his dad in mind.

With his win in the South Point 400, Hamlin locked himself into the Championship 4 at Phoenix for the first time since 2021, which was also the last time Hamlin won a playoff race in Sin City before Sunday’s race. Win No. 60 also lands Hamlin 10th on the all-time wins list with future Hall of Famer Kevin Harvick.

“Yeah, just an incredible team effort,” Hamlin said. “I’ve only had five minutes to think about what just happened. Certainly, didn’t expect it — I just drove as hard as I could. Huge to get ampm their first win, and huge thank you to everyone that has been a part of our team this season — Toyota, Progressive, Sport Clips, National Debt Relief, King’s Hawaiian, Bob’s Discount Furniture, Coca-Cola, Jordan Brand, Shady Rays and Logitech G.”

Hamlin was also asked about how much he prepared for the race.

“A lot. I don’t know,” he said. “It constantly occupies my mind, and everything I need to do to get better as a driver. I work really hard at it, so it is super rewarding to get results like this.”

The 44-year-old also became the first Cup Series driver to win at Las Vegas from pole position.

Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson was arguably the most dominant driver of the entire race, leading 129 of 267 laps and finishing second in the race, second in Stage 1 and winning Stage 2. Larson’s 54 points scored were tied for the most scored with race winner Hamlin.

This was the first time in Larson’s career that he led over 100 laps at Las Vegas and failed to win. He previously led over 100 laps and won at the 1.5-mile Nevada track in 2021, 2023 and 2024.

“I thought we did everything that we could do,” Larson said. “The Toyotas were really fast for the short run there. I saw the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin, race winner) line up behind me and I knew he’d be difficult to hold off. If any one of the Toyotas got clear and could get rolling, I knew it would be tough. He did a great job, though. He still had to make the right moves, which he did. I felt like I was doing all I could to stay in front of him, while also trying to track down the No. 19 (Chase Briscoe). We just came up a little bit short, but overall, it was a great day for the No. 5 Chevrolet team.”

JGR driver Christopher Bell did not lead any laps, but remained up front for most of the event to finish third, earning a much-needed 43 points.

Bell was asked about his biggest takeaway from the day in Las Vegas.

“Kind of déjà vu as last year,” Bell said. “Just we were all a little bit at the beginning of the race, obviously got going pretty good there the second half of the race. I felt like at the second half, I had what I needed to go out there and win. I just didn’t do a good job on the restarts, didn’t get through there. I don’t know. Feels a lot like last year. Hopefully, we can execute the next two a little bit better than last year.”

Chase Briscoe was another JGR driver who remained up front for most of the South Point 400. The driver of the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota led the second-most laps (57 laps) and crew chief James Small made a two-tire strategy call that helped him get the track position to lead toward the end of the race and finish fourth.

“I was hanging on,” Briscoe said. “Yeah, I thought I was in a really good spot there, the first three or four laps after the restart, my car drove really good. As I ran, I was just absolutely sideways in our Bass Pro Shops Toyota. I thought there for a while when they were racing hard enough, maybe I was going to sneak one off on them. Just really loose at the end. Glad at least a JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) car won. That’s going to sting for a while.”

Results from the 2025 South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway are listed below:

Playoff Driver Chaos

Two NASCAR Cup Series playoff drivers who entered the South Point 400 above the cutline left Las Vegas Motor Speedway below it.

Ryan Blaney (+6) and William Byron (+4) were above the cutline heading into Las Vegas. After both drivers failed to finish due to two separate accidents, Blaney finished 38th and is now 31 points below the cutline. Byron finished 36th, and he left Nevada 15 points below.

Blaney had a tire go down that ended his day early.

Byron was running inside the top three before running into the back of Ty Dillon after miscommunication between the drivers and spotters. Dillon said his spotter told him that he told the No. 24 team that they were pitting, but Byron said his spotter did not relay any information. It is currently unknown what happened between the spotters.

Other Race Facts

This was the eighth time Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson have occupied both the top two finishing spots in a NASCAR Cup Series race. Hamlin has won seven of those eight races.

Hamlin’s 57th Cup Series win with Toyota makes him Toyota’s all-time winningest driver. His win was also the 300th win for the No. 11 car in NASCAR history.

Kyle Busch started 32nd and finished eighth at his home track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This was his 10th top 10 of the 2025 Cup Series season, despite being on pace for his worst finish in the final standings of his full-time Cup Series career.

Ross Chastain is now the only driver in the Next Gen era to finish on the lead lap in all eight Las Vegas races.

Here is a look at the updated playoff standings after Las Vegas:

GRID RANKING