What Happened?
Denny Hamlin qualified on pole Saturday (Sept. 6) and backed that up by going to victory lane in Sunday’s (Sept. 7) NASCAR Cup Series Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.
The No. 11 paced the field more than anybody, spending 75 laps out front. Hamlin also picked up the bonus point for the Xfinity Fastest Lap to boot. He now joins Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe as drivers locked into the Round of 12.
Speaking of Briscoe, he came home second, while Chase Elliott completed the top three.
What Really Happened?
Hamlin has scored back-to-back poles to open the playoffs and finished seventh at Darlington Raceway before the Gateway victory. While he’s had flaws, he doesn’t seem to have a consistent challengers for victory and has turned up his performance after missing Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
To all the Hamlin fans, this sounds familiar. Hamlin has another lights out year, but will he be able to take home the title?
It seems like year after year, the answer is yes, until something crazy happens that knocks him out of the running for the Bill France Cup.
But 2025? Something just feels different.
Sure, Hamlin leads the series with five victories, and some of those races were pure domination. But what makes Hamlin’s performance so different from previous years?
It almost flies under the radar.
Hamlin’s biggest downfall — at least in the last two seasons — was borderline overconfidence. He called his shot multiple times, remarking “it’s our year” in both 2023 and 2024 — neither of which resulted in a title.
But 2025 is different. For Hamlin, the 2025 season has been an absolute whirlwind. He missed Mexico City due to the birth of his son, foregoing racing to be with family. The woman who now shares three children with Hamlin, Jordan Fish? They got engaged after years of dating. He also signed a contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing, an extension that Hamlin has mentioned might be his last.
On the other hand, Hamlin and JGR have been humbled (for lack of a better term) by the fact that they entered the 2025 season without a major sponsor with the departure of not only FedEx, but Mavis as well.
And need I mention this gruesome lawsuit that has gone on in the background of the 2025 season?
All these things and maybe even more seem to have given Hamlin a more laid-back approach to the season. While we’re all talking about Shane van Gisbergen’s road course dominance, Hamlin has gone on to take five checkered flags so far this season. In a season where both the Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series have outright favorites for the title in Connor Zilisch and Corey Heim, the Cup Series doesn’t feel like it has a dominant driver — even though Hamlin is the season leader in wins.
Not to mention, Hamlin is approaching 45 and has mentioned recently how he’s satisfied with chasing race wins over a championship now.
Maybe the mentality has shifted? Who knows? But with the way that Hamlin and the No. 11 camp are performing right now, something about this season feels different. Hamlin didn’t even win the regular season championship, but he is starting to come alive in the playoffs — sounds like some sort of Jimmie Johnson strategy, methinks.
If he keeps his performance up at the pace he’s currently at, then maybe — just maybe — 2025 is Denny Hamlin’s year after all.
Who Stood Out?
There is something about Gateway that just clicks for Joey Logano.
In the Cup Series’ four races at the 1.25-mile oval, Logano has finished in the top five in all of them.
Logano’s fifth-place finish is a much-needed morale boost for the No. 22 team, who has only scored four top fives this season, including the win at Texas Motor Speedway. As someone who won the 2024 championship with an abysmal average finish of 17.1, the past few seasons haven’t treated Logano kindly despite his successes.
If there’s any driver who Enjoys Illinois for 300 miles, like the race’s name implies, it’s Logano, and it was on full display Sunday.
Who Fell Flat?
Ever since winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, it’s all gone wrong for Josh Berry, and the playoffs are no exception.
While the No. 21 made it past lap 1 this week, Berry still crashed early on, only making it 35 laps before getting turned by a fellow playoff competitor in Elliott in turn 1.
Berry’s entire left front wheel severed off the car, ending his day altogether and denying him the opportunity to go back out and try for the fastest lap like he did at Darlington.
Since the playoffs began, Berry has scored just three combined points and completed 36 laps out of a combined possible 607 laps between Darlington and Gateway. This has left Berry 45 points below the cut line and all but in a must-win situation if he wants any hope of advancing in the playoffs.
Paint Scheme of the Race
Over the summer, Dale Earnhardt Jr. did a commercial for IHOP, where he quickly became a meme for his delivery of the word, “Pancakes!” at the end of the commercial.
However as summer turns to fall, Daniel Suarez has everybody thinking about waffles.
Choice Privileges has sponsored Suarez and Trackhouse Racing for a while now, but when the No. 99 rolled off the hauler in St. Louis, it wasn’t wrapped in Choice Hotels’ typical orange in black.
Instead, it was wrapped like a golden-brown waffle topped with maple syrup.
It made for one of the best unique designs of the year in my opinion, and it made me wish I was at the track for Frontstretch this weekend, because Suarez treated the media to some waffles of their own courtesy of Choice Privileges.
Suarez started 26th and finished 35th after contact early in the race with Briscoe forced the No. 99 into the turn 1 and 2 wall.
What’s Next?
Thunder Valley cuts 16 championship contenders to 12.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway for the annual summer night race classic that fans have adored for years. It’s the final race of the Round of 16, meaning four drivers’ championship hopes come to an end at the conclusion of 500 laps.
Kyle Larson fans ought to be happy about heading back to The Last Great Colosseum. Larson has won— no no, dominated— the last two races at Bristol (last September and this past April), leading a combined 873 of 1,000 total laps in those races.
Coverage for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race begins on Saturday, Sept. 13 at approximately 7:30 p.m. ET. USA Network will have television coverage, while radio coverage on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Channel 90 shifts to the Performance Racing Network.
Follow @AnthonyDamcott on X.
Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and serves as an at-track reporter. He has also assisted with short track content and social media, among other duties he takes/has taken on for the site. In 2025, he became an official member of the National Motorsports Press Association. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight coordinator in his free time.
You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.