NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin. Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

Denny Hamlin emerges triumphant as team owner in Brickyard 400

By Samuel Stubbs | Last updated Jul 27, 2025 6:55 PM ET

After a vicious accident during Brickyard 400 qualifying on Saturday, the path to a victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Denny Hamlin was quite steep.

While Hamlin came up short of his first Brickyard 400 win, he did go down as a winning car owner thanks to Bubba Wallace holding off Kyle Larson to score the win.

Denny arrived and kissed the bricks, too. pic.twitter.com/XF5BvMSMpg
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) July 27, 2025

As for Hamlin? He finished third, unable to make a charge at the leaders despite two overtime restarts.

But a third-place effort was a great day for the No. 11 team after the aforementioned qualifying crash could've completely derailed their weekend.

"I got to say thank you to everyone at (Joe Gibbs Racing), all four teams, for chipping in yesterday," Hamlin told TNT Sports. "23XI (Racing) for wrapping the car. Just a huge team effort. I've never seen so many people come together to get this car together. It needed a lot of work, and they gave me something to contend with."

After starting 39th, Hamlin broke into the top five by the end of Stage 2, finishing third in the stage. That allowed him to stay in contention throughout the final 60 laps, and while he wasn't able to win the race, he put together a strong effort with a car that had yet to turn a lap all weekend.

Hamlin leads the Cup Series in wins this season with four, and will go for a fifth at Iowa Speedway on Aug. 3.

Samuel Stubbs

Hailing from the same neck of the woods as NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, Samuel has been covering NASCAR for Yardbarker since February 2024. He has been a member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) since October of 2024. When he’s not writing about racing, Samuel covers Arkansas Razorback basketball for Yardbarker

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