Happy Hamlin

Denny Hamlin celebrates his win in the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway. (Photo: Ryan Kemna/TRE)

Enjoy Illinois 300:

Denny Hamlin captured his fifth win of the 2025 season on Sunday afternoon at World Wide Technology Raceway and has locked himself into the Round of 12. It was Hamlin's first win at World Wide Technology Raceway after two straight second place finishes at the track. Following his win, Hamlin challenged fans to "get on the bandwagon or get run over." And although Hamlin clarified it was about winning races, I cannot help but believe it is also Denny calling his shot for the championship.

The race was pretty entertaining overall. Although passing was still hard a softer tire, multiple strategies, and a multigroove racetrack allowed the drivers and teams to make challenges to one another and give us a quailty race to watch. We also had enough cautions throughout the day that kept the field bunched up and gave us the aforementioned pit strategy. Passing was still at a premium (a consistent issue with this car), but because of the multiple strategies and slighlty improved tire, we did have passing throughout the day. Moreover, we had drivers making aggressive moves for track position so they could maximize clean air and their newer tires (see Kyle Larson dumping Ryan Blaney). That was likely the most interesting incident of the day because it was, of course, Larson busting his ass on a low chance move. I also did find it interesting that we had Dillon brother on brother wrecking - albeit it clearly not intentional. The other incidents that were mind blowing was Briscoe cooking it into turn one and dumping Suarez, and Elliott being aggresive early in the race and wrecking out Berry. Unfortunately, from an entertainment perspective, it was unfortunate that there was no retaliation. Although I was impressed that Blaney sought out and impatiently waited on Larson to hear his side of the story. Will anything come of it? Not visually for most fans, but I do expect Blaney to race the hell out of Larson moving forward. Although the way the race played out did present opportuntities for multiple drivers to have a chance to win, Denny Hamlin and the 11 team managed and executed the race to perfection. They were in contention all day, capitalized with their strategy, and Hamlin took the lead late and drove away to his fifth checkered flag of the year.

Next up we head to Bristol Motor Speedway with all three series back in action this weekend! The Craftsman Truck Series gets the party started on Thursday night at 8 p.m. EST on FS1 with the UNOH 200. The Xfinity Series attacks the track on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. EST on The CW with the Food City 300. The Cup Series headlines the weekend on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. EST on USA with the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race.

Bristol Picks:

Trucks = Corey Lajoie

Xfinity = Connor Zilisch

Cup = Kyle Larson