Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Progressive Toyota, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Enjoy Illinois 300 at WWT Raceway. Photo: NASCAR
Denny Hamlin claimed his series-best fifth victory of the season and advanced to the Round of 12 of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday.
Hamlin, 44, finished 1.620 seconds ahead of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe in the Enjoy Illinois 300, marking his first win at the 1.25-mile track. The win was the 59th of his career, placing him 11th on the all-time wins list, one victory shy of Kevin Harvick for 10th. The win also marked the 200th for Toyota.
After taking the checkered flag in front of a sold-out crowd, Hamlin had some choice words for his detractors in the stands, telling the crowd, “You can either get on the bandwagon or get run over by it,” which was met with boos.
The victory solidified Hamlin’s status as a serious contender for the championship that has eluded him throughout his 20-year 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.”
Both Hamlin and Briscoe pitted early during a cycle of green-flag pit stops with about 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 — Hamlin passed Brad Keselowski for the lead moments after the subsequent restart on Lap 216 and held it for the rest of the race.
Briscoe, who had an issue with the left rear tire on pit road, 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 gap between the Top 12 in the standings and the four drivers below the elimination line. Austin Cindric finished 19th and held on to 12th in the Playoff standings, 11 points ahead of Austin Dillon in 13th. Shane van Gisbergen, a four-time winner, finished 25th and fell 15 points below the elimination line.
Alex Bowman (26th) fell 35 points behind Cindric due to continued pit road issues. An early crash relegated Josh Berry to a second straight last-place finish, leaving him 45 points below the cut line and likely needing a win at Saturday’s Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway to advance.
Meanwhile, other playoff contenders solidified their positions. Briscoe, who was already exempt into the next round from his win at Darlington last Sunday, won the first stage. Bubba Wallace won Stage 2 on his way to an eighth-place finish. Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano finished third, fourth, and fifth, respectively.
For Logano, the inaugural Cup winner at Gateway in 2022, the Top 5 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, finishing seventh and leaving the St. Louis-area track 32 points above the elimination line. Hendrick Motorsports drivers Kyle Larson and William Byron finished 11th and 12th, respectively, and are third and sixth in the Playoff standings, needing only to avoid disaster at Bristol to advance.
Larson, however, was the source of antagonism for Blaney. On Lap 135, five laps before the end of Stage 2, Larson charged into Turns 3 and 4, slipped up the track, and sent Blaney spinning. Though Blaney recovered to finish fourth, he was not happy.
“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 apologized to Blaney and commented to the media that “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.”
John Hunter Nemechek was the highest-finishing non-Playoff driver in sixth. Hamlin led a race-high 75 laps to 73 for Wallace.
The Cup Series now moves to Bristol, and the cutoff point for the Field of 12, this Saturday night under the lights of The Last Great Colosseum.
Enjoy Illinois 300
World Wide Technology Raceway
Madison, Illinois
Sunday, September 7, 2025
1. (1) Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 240.
2. (3) Chase Briscoe (P), Toyota, 240.
3. (19) Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, 240.
4. (5) Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 240.
5. (13) Joey Logano (P), Ford, 240.
6. (20) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 240.
7. (8) Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 240.
8. (14) Bubba Wallace (P), Toyota, 240.
9. (11) Chris Buescher, Ford, 240.
10. (21) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 240.
11. (6) William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 240.
12. (2) Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 240.
13. (32) Ryan Preece, Ford, 240.
14. (28) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 240.
15. (27) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 240.
16. (7) Tyler Reddick (P), Toyota, 240.
17. (23) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 240.
18. (15) Austin Dillon (P), Chevrolet, 240.
19. (9) Austin Cindric (P), Ford, 240.
20. (34) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 240.
21. (16) Erik Jones, Toyota, 240.
22. (22) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 240.
23. (17) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 240.
24. (4) Ross Chastain (P), Chevrolet, 240.
25. (18) Shane Van Gisbergen # (P), Chevrolet, 240.
26. (25) Alex Bowman (P), Chevrolet, 240.
27. (29) Cole Custer, Ford, 240.
28. (31) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 240.
29. (36) Cody Ware, Ford, 240.
30. (24) Noah Gragson, Ford, 239.
31. (33) Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 239.
32. (30) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 239.
33. (10) Zane Smith, Ford, 239.
34. (35) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, Accident, 207.
35. (26) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, Accident, 64.
36. (12) Josh Berry (P), Ford, Accident, 35.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 98.262 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 3 Mins, 11 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 1.620 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 10 for 52 laps.
Lead Changes: 15 among 9 drivers.