Denny Hamlin dominated Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway for his sixth win at the short track.
Denny Hamlin has done it again.
Hamlin scored his sixth NASCAR Cup Series win at Martinsville Speedway and first since 2015, dominating the Cook Out 400 on Sunday to earn the 55th win of his career.
While there were no big fights or arguments, some drivers had problems at one of the more exciting short tracks on the NASCAR schedule.
Here are the winners and losers from the NASCAR Martinsville race.
Winners
Denny Hamlin
Denny Hamlin led 274 laps and dominated Martinsville. He held off Christopher Bell with about 80 laps to go, but Hamlin was able to drive away from his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate and earn his sixth victory at Martinsville Speedway and 55th win in his NASCAR Cup Series career.
Chase Elliott
A week after Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon addressed Chase Elliott’s lackluster start to the season, Elliott was able to find a way to run toward the front all day, led 42 laps and finish a Chevrolet-best fourth place at Martinsville.
Toyota Racing
Joe Gibbs Racing had a 1-2 finish with Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell taking the top two spots and Chase Briscoe finishing ninth in the No. 19 car. Bubba Wallace finished third for the second week in a row and his third top 10 of the season. Hamlin dominating the race was another sign of Toyota’s strength early this season, on top of Bell winning three races in a row earlier this season.
Losers
William Byron
William Byron had issues on pit road with a 23-second stop that gave him troubles early in the race and he ran toward the top 15 afterward. Byron finished 22nd in the first race he did not lead a lap this season.
Austin Cindric
Austin Cindric had all kinds of issues in Martinsville. He had a battery issue early in the race then had to run the majority of the race with a malfunctioning cool suit underneath his firesuit, which made a tough race more exhausting for the Team Penske driver. He ended up 38th of 38 cars after exiting the race with further battery issues inside the final 20 laps.
Josh Berry
Josh Berry led 40 laps in the opening stage but had issues with the battery on the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford toward the middle of the race and found himself a lap down throughout most of the race. Berry ended the day 33rd but has the Las Vegas win to fall back on.
Follow sports writer Austin Chastain on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @ChastainAJ or reach him via email at achastain@gannett.com.
Read the full article here
