NASCAR
Hamlin Ties Rusty Wallace with 55th Cup Win after Martinsville Beatdown
RIDGEWAY, Va. – Virginia’s own Denny Hamlin gave his home state crowd a nearly perfect show at Martinsville. Taking command midway through Stage 2, the No. 11 Toyota hardly left the top spot for the rest of Sunday’s Cook Out 400. After one of the Next Gen era’s most dominant drives, Hamlin moves further up the list of NASCAR’s all-time greats with another victory.
Stage 1 was a Ford-dominated opening stint, seeing Josh Berry and then Joey Logano out front. Stage 2 likewise saw Toyotas come to life, with Denny Hamlin taking this win.
Aside from one lap on a restart, Martinsville turned into a Denny Hamlin invitational. The Progressive No. 11 Toyota led an astounding 274 laps in this dominant win, the most circuits he’s paced in a Next Gen race. The Martinsville master continues to pad his stats at The Half-Mile of Mayhem, picking up a sixth Grandfather Clock trophy. It may have been a decade since Hamlin’s last south Virginia triumph, but his recent run of success here was building towards another win.
One of a few incidents to break up this domination saw Toyota teammates Tyler Reddick and Ty Gibbs tangle. Radio reaction from Gibbs after his spin was not kind to Reddick; the slumping driver showed great displeasure to the 45.
“You know, Chris Gayle, all the engineers, the pit crew, everybody really on that wall right there, just deciding they were going to come here with a different approach than what we’ve been over the last few years,” Hamlin said. “It was just amazing. The car was great. It did everything I needed it to do. Just so happy to win with Chris, get 55.”
“(Chris Gayle) has been such a soldier to come in here to this 11 team, kind of learn our style. Over the last few weeks, just putting his final touches on it. It’s really been a great mesh. Our relationship is getting better.”
“Man, really happy to get a win with him. Obviously back here in Martinsville where I spent so many years racing late models and whatnot. Gosh, I love winning here.”
Hamlin’s new motto was also unveiled with this victory: ’11 against the world.’ “My buddies, my Ohio State fans that I hung out with at the end of last year, we always had the ‘Ohio State against the world.’ So now it’s ’11 against the world.'”
Hamlin now ties NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace’s 55 wins for 11th on the all-time Cup Series victories list. Coincidentally enough, Wallace’s 55th checkered flag also came in the spring Martinsville race 21 years ago, his final time in victory lane. Hamlin also takes new No. 11 crew chief Chris Gayle to victory lane for the first time. Hamlin’s new sponsor Progressive Insurance also picks up a win in only their second outing.
It was a top-two sweep for Joe Gibbs Racing at Martinsville, with Christopher Bell a distant five seconds back of Hamlin. Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott, and Kyle Larson were the top-five. Ross Chastain, Ryan Preece, Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe, and Todd Gilliland rounded out the top-10. Hear from a few of these drivers below.
’11 against the world’ may become a common mantra over the next few weeks. Next week is the annual spring trek to Denny Hamlin’s personal playground, Darlington Raceway, for the Goodyear 400. The South Carolina green flag will fly Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Still chasing his elusive 60 wins goal, Hamlin hopes to inch closer to this milestone at The Track Too Tough to Tame.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credits to Peter Stratta/TSJSports
