NASCAR Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin. Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Denny Hamlin wins NASCAR playoff race at Las Vegas, secures Championship 4 berth

By Samuel Stubbs | Last updated Oct 12, 2025 8:58 PM ET

For the first time since 2021, Denny Hamlin will go to the NASCAR Cup Series season finale at Phoenix Raceway with the ability to win his first Cup Series title.

After a blinding restart saw Hamlin climb to second in the closing laps, he passed his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate in Chase Briscoe with four laps to go and drove off into the Sin City sunset to win Sunday's South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The win is the sixth victory of 2025 for Hamlin and the 60th of his career, tying him with Kevin Harvick for 10th on NASCAR's all-time wins list.

Next stop: Phoenix pic.twitter.com/w4e3peYGXl
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 13, 2025

Hamlin started from the pole and led nine of 267 laps on Sunday.

An emotional Hamlin dedicated the win to his father and drove around the track on his cooldown lap with tears in his eyes.

"This one means a lot," Hamlin told USA Network. "Obviously, I want to say hi to my dad. I just put the pedal down those last 10 laps and made it happen. I just held it down. That's all I could do, just go for it and try to punch the ticket now."

2025 will be the first time that Hamlin has made it to the Championship 4 in the Next-Gen era.

Notable South Point 400 results

Stage 2 winner Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Briscoe and Tyler Reddick rounded out the top-five, with Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski completing the top-10.

Other notable finishers include Chris Buescher in 12th, Chase Elliott in 18th, Katherine Legge in 31st, Shane van Gisbergen in 33rd and Ty Gibbs in 34th.

Stage 1 winner William Byron finished 36th after a late-race crash with Ty Dillon, while Ryan Blaney finished 38th after cutting a tire late in Stage 1.

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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