Denny Dominates

Denny Hamlin celebrates his win in the 2025 Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway. (Image: Getty)

Cook Out 400:

Denny Hamlin dominated Sunday's Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway leading 274 of 400 laps en route to his first victory of 2025 and his sixth at the Virginia short track - his first there since the Spring race of 2015. The win will lock Hamlin into the 2025 playoffs and may have quelled the concerns of Denny Detractors as Hamlin, now 44, continues to prove he can run up front and win even years after others had dropped off in that age range. Hamlin, however, remains quite confident he can compete with the best of them regardless of his age and his dominant performance Sunday proved that to the world.

The race Sunday was, to me, a throwback to the years of one driver (usually Gordon, Johnson, or Hamlin) absolutely slaughtering the field behind them while everyone else was hoping to finish second. Hamlin didn't have it easy to start. The Hendrick Chevy's all looked tough to start with Logano and Josh Berry hanging tough and Berry winning stage 1 before battery issues trashed his day, and even Bubba Wallace looked to be a serious contender at points in the race. However, Hamlin pulled his belts tight, took the lead, and hardly gave it up throughout the rest of the race once he took the lead in Stage 2. His pit crew performed flawlessly and Denny was able to pick his moves and manage his tires and speed to control the race. It was quintessential Denny Hamlin and he did not disappoint Sunday afternoon. And thank the Lord Sunday's race did not spiral into the cluster that was Saturday's Xfinity Series race.

Now, some will say Sunday was boring with the lack of passes for the lead and wrecks. However, we had races like this in the 2000s and 2010s where one driver would annihilate the field while chaos ensued behind them. And granted we did not have the chaos behind but it was still a solid race. I would give this race a 6.5/10 because it had many elements that made it interesting. A dominant leader, a few foes giving him their best shots, and some attrition as far as competition goes. The cars are stronger and more durable than ever so it does not shock me we only had one car not running at the finish. While there are things that could have made the race better it is also my opion that NASCAR is making ground on more competitive and better short track racing. My recommendation would be (since they have no appetite to change the motor or gear ratios) would be to continue to work with Goodyear to make a slightly softer tire. We've seen massive gains in a short time with the tire experiments and I think we can go a bit further to help the racing even more.

Next up we head to "The Lady in Black" - Darlington Raceway. The Trucks have the weekend off so the Xfinity Series kicks off throwback weekend with the Sports Clips Haircuts Hire a Hero 200 on Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. on The CW. The Cup Series headlines the weekend with the Goodyear 400 on Sunday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. on FS1.

Darlington Picks:

Trucks = BYE

Xfinity = Chase Elliott

Cup = Tyler Reddick