Denny Hamlin overcomes mid-race penalty to win at Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS —Denny Hamlin overcomes a speeding penalty to return to NASCAR Cup Series victory lane, winning the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas.

This is Hamlin’ 61st win to take sole possession of tenth all-time over Kevin Harvick.

Hamlin started the race second and led the majority of stage one before handing the stage win over to his teammate Christopher Bell.

Under the following caution period, Hamlin attained a speeding penalty to relegate him to the rear. From there he muscled his way through the pack to fifth by the end of the second stage.

His crew delivered under the final stage caution to grab third where he would play a major hand in his destiny from there.

Connor Zilisch brought out the only caution for incident which set Hamlin up with a battle for the lead on the restart with Bell. He took the lead with 47 to go and never looked back.

Chase Elliott kept Hamlin honest in the final run to the checkered flag as he finished behind by a half second.

William Byron earned the stage two win and finished third after a loose final restart.

Two Joe Gibbs Racing teammates joined Denny Hamlin in the top five. Christopher Bell turned his Stage 1 win into a fourth-place finish, while Ty Gibbs surged late to claim his second straight top-five in fifth.

Gibbs overcame his own speeding penalty during the same caution period as Hamlin and recovered quite well.

Chase Briscoe also battled through adversity, overcoming two pit road penalties to finish eighth after regaining the lead lap on the final caution.

Kyle Larson led 62 laps, second only to Hamlin’s race-high 134, but a slow final pit stop cost him track position and he faded to seventh.

RFK Racing provided solid speed all race. Chris Buescher led the group in sixth while Brad Keselowski and Ryan Preece finished tenth and 11th.

Bubba Wallace collected 13 stage points and finished ninth, while Tyler Reddick struggled with tire falloff on the long run and slipped to 13th; His first finish outside the top ten this season.

Team Penske spent most of the day in the mid-teens. Ryan Blaney had climbed to seventh before an unfortunate pit sequence before the final caution shuffled him back. Both he and Austin Cindric received wave-arounds but couldn’t recover enough ground to contend for a top ten late.

The full results are below.

Below is an archive of the live updates for the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube.

FINAL STAGE

5 TO GO: Chase Elliott closes the gap to .7 as Denny Hamlin worked through lap traffic.

10 TO GO: Denny Hamlin has stabilized the lead to around 1.5 seconds as he looks to nurse his tires to the end for the win.

12 TO GO: Chase Briscoe has climbed to seventh around Kyle Larson. What a tremendous turnaround. The gap between the leaders sit at 1.6 seconds now.

15 TO GO: Gibbs now sits fifth as the leader continues to eek out some time ahead of second. Hamlin is ahead by 1.4 seconds

18 TO GO: Denny clears the laps cars of Ty Dillon and Cody Ware to put the lap cars between him and Chase Elliott. Ty Gibbs is fastest on the track currently as he battles Chris Buescher for fifth.

20 TO GO: Hamlin continues to lead but he looks tight on corner exit. Meanwhile Chase Elliott said his best run past 40 laps was the previous stint as the laps continue to wind down.

23 TO GO: Lap traffic is causing Hamlin fits. Chase Elliott closes to 1.2 seconds.

25 TO GO: Chris Buescher and Christopher Bell continue to go at it for fourth. Brad Keselowski closes in on Bubba Wallace for tenth.

28 TO GO: William Byron passes Bell for third. He sits two seconds behind the lead.

32 TO GO: Christopher Bell is starting to slide into the clutches of Byron and Buescher as the fight for third heats up. Briscoe passed Reddick for eighth in the interim.

34 TO GO: Chase Elliott climbs to second as Hamlin extends his lead to a second.

35 TO GO: Chase Briscoe is up to ninth after his pass on Bubba Wallace two laps ago as Wallace battles tight conditions in his racecar. The other Chase closes in on Christopher Bell for second.

40 TO GO: Ty Gibbs passes Kyle Larson for seventh as teams start to think about tire wear.

42 TO GO: Hamlin has stretched his lead by over a half second to Bell in second. Briscoe is now fighting Brad Keselowski for tenth.

Noah Gragson is on pit road for an unscheduled pit stop.

45 TO GO: William Byron retakes fourth around Chris Buescher. Chase Briscoe is already up to 13th.

LAP 220: Denny Hamlin retakes the lead with Bell, Elliott, Buescher, and Byron in the top five. Larson has rebounded to sixth after his poor stop.

LAP 218: Bell and Hamlin come back to the line in a dead heat as Elliott clears his teammate for third.

LAP 217: 20 cars are on the lead lap with 52 to go. The top ten as they run: Bell, Hamlin, Byron, Elliott, Buescher, Gibbs, Reddick, Larson, Wallace, and where did he come from? Brad Keselowski rounds out the top ten.

LAP 215: Christopher Bell’s crew delivers another stellar stop to get him the lead of the race. Denny Hamlin will line up alongside him on the restart.

LAP 214: Chase Briscoe has done it! He earns the free pass under the first caution for incident on the day as Austin Cindric completed his pit stop right before the leaders lapped him.

LAP 211: CAUTION! William Byron takes the lead and uses McDowell as a pick as Connor Zilisch spins off of turn four after running into the back of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who tried to pit.

“I didn’t see his hand out the window… I didn’t know he was pitting” Zilisch Radioed to his team.

"He didn't get the memo."

Trouble for Connor Zilisch in Vegas. Here's what happened: pic.twitter.com/VAF3fPNSNw

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 15, 2026

LAP 210: Ryan Blaney starts the final green flag cycle but slides through his pit box as he will surely surrender his top ten position after the pit cycle concludes.

LAP 208: The top five are about a second apart from each other but Chase Elliott is nearly four seconds ahead of sixth.

LAP 203: What a difference a year can make. After achieving his first Cup Series win here in 2025, Josh Berry currently runs 34th out of 36 cars, two laps down.

LAP 200: 67 to go in the race and Hamlin and Byron are matching lap times of 31.1 second laps. Bubba Wallace continues to fall as Ty Gibbs passes him for ninth.

LAP 195: The lead has stabilized to around 1.4 seconds while Buescher continues to fight Reddick for sixth.

LAP 193: A string of cars from sixth to ninth juggle positions. Bubba Wallace has fallen to ninth while Chris Buescher is up to seventh.

LAP 190: Hamlin has stretched his lead over Byron to a second now. Bell and Larson stay within eye sight of the front two in similar fashion to the first stage.

LAP 186: Denny clears Byron for the lead with 82 to go!

LAP 183: Hamlin continues to try and find a way around William Byron but the leader is aero-blocking well.

Ty Gibbs breaks back into the top ten as he passes Ryan Preece for tenth.

LAP 180: Chase Elliott passes Tyler Reddick for fifth as the top ten settle into the green flag run.

LAP 179: Byron still leads Hamlin but the second place car looks to be the better of the two.

LAP 176: Denny Hamlin is back looks to battle Byron for the lead of the race.

LAP 174: Kyle Larson slips to fourth after a big move from Bell and Hamlin. Byron leads.

LAP 170: Kyle Larson takes the lead as he wins the race of pit road. William Byron, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, Chris Buescher, Zane Smith, and Ryan Preece make up the top ten heading to the restart.

LAP 168: Ross Chastain is the free pass car after Kyle Larson lapped up to 19th in the stage.

Despite the poor end to the stage, Carson Hocevar runs 22nd only one lap down.

STAGE TWO WINNER: William Byron

LAP 167: William Byron wins stage two after his three-wide pass for the lead! Larson, Bell, Wallace, Hamlin, Reddick, Buescher, Preece, Elliott, and Austin Cindric collect the final stage points today.

This is Byron’s first stage win this season as Hamlin completes his great comeback to the top five.

LAP 162: Carson Hocevar pits from 15th with a flat tire effectively ending his shot at a top ten. He then speeds on pit road to add to his pain.

LAP 160: William Byron takes the lead! Kyle Busch about hits the wall and nearly takes out the leader to maintain his lap.

LAP 159. He’s done it! Denny Hamlin secures fifth over Tyler Reddick with seven to go in the stage.

LAP 157: Now its Ryan Preece’s turn to pass Elliott. He’s fastest on track at the moment and takes eighth.

LAP 155: William Byron passes Bell for second as Ross Chastain continues to dog Kyle Larson to get his lap back. Hamlin now takes sixth from Chris Buescher.

LAP 153: Denny Hamlin picks off Chase Elliott for seventh. He could climb as high as fifth before the stage concludes.

LAP 151: 15 to go in the stage and the lead is now only half a second between Larson and Bell.

Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain fights directly in front of the leaders for their lap.

LAP 148: While Kyle Larson struggled to lap AJ Allmendinger, Christopher Bell has closed the gap to under a second.

LAP 145: Denny Hamlin continues his climb back to the front. He passes Ryan Preece for eighth.

LAP 143: Chase Briscoe is fastest on track a lap down in 24th. He needs to pass McDowell and Herbst to retake the free pass position.

LAP 140: Christopher Bell is starting to gain time back on the leader as William Byron is wide in Bell’s mirror.

LAP 135: The Berry too fast entering speeding penalty has handed the free pass position to Chase Briscoe but the field is very spread out and will have to wait the 30 remaining laps to see if he obtains it.

LAP 130: The cycle is now complete as Kyle Larson stretches his lead by around 2.5 seconds over Bell. Byron, Wallace, Reddick, Buescher, Elliott, Preece, Cindric, and Denny Hamlin are in the top ten.

LAP 126: Blaney and most of the remaining cars come down pit road.

Todd Gilliland and Josh Berry get caught speeding on pit road.

LAP 124: Ryan Blaney looks to stretch his tire strategy as the top seven still has yet to pit.

Chase Elliott was the biggest loser in the top ten. He lost four positions on pit road.

LAP 121: Now comes Larson and much of the top ten.

LAP 120: Kyle Larson now gaps Christopher Bell by two seconds. William Byron starts the pit cycle from third.

LAP 115: Byron is the fastest on the track at the moment. He sits 1.3 seconds behind the leader Kyle Larson.

Denny Hamlin has started to move through the field and runs in 13th. Ty Gibbs tails by two seconds behind in 16th.

LAP 111: William Byron passes Chase Elliott for third as Tyler Reddick’s horrid long-run car is starting to take effect. He slips to seventh behind Wallace and Blaney 25 laps into the run.

LAP 108: Trouble for Michael McDowell, he makes an unscheduled pit stop under green as well.

LAP 106: Josh Berry currently sits in the free pass spot in 24th with Chase Briscoe looking to challenge him.

LAP 103: Chase Elliott closes to within a few car lengths of Bell for second while Elliott’s teammate Justin Allgaier makes an unscheduled pit stop under green.

Allgaier is 3 laps down while 24th-35th are all only one lap down.

LAP 100: Austin Cindric is the biggest mover of the race. He sits seventh after starting near the rear.

Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs have made little progress so far. They currently run 19th and 21st.

LAP 98: The top five has separated from from the pack by over a second as Byron and clears Reddick for fourth.

LAP 94: With a huge push from Bryon, Larson takes the lead as the top five continue to shuffle about.

LAP 93: Elliott joins the leaders for a three-wide battle for the lead!

LAP 92: Chase Elliott clears for third while teammate William Byron captures fourth. With the JGR cars out of the picture its all Hendrick Motorsports at the front.

LAP 90: Bell and Larson fight side-by-side for the lead while the second row is three wide for third.

LAP 86: Trouble in the pits for JGR. Front-runners Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs will restart at the rear after speeding on pit road. Chase Briscoe earns a penalty for pitting in Ty Gibb’s box to tighten a loose wheel.

Michael McDowell’s gamble to take tires on lap 50 paid off as he is awarded the free pass after going two laps down in the first stage.

LAP 85: Christopher Bell retains the led after winning the race off pit road.

Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Ty Gibbs, Ryan Preece, Tyler Reddick, and Ryan Blaney consist of the top ten.

STAGE ONE WINNER: Christopher Bell

LAP 80: Christopher Bell wins the first stage from Kyle Larson, Hamlin, Gibbs, Wallace, Byron, Preece, Elliott, Blaney, and Tyler Reddick earn stage points

LAP 75: Here comes Kyle Larson! He closes within a few car lengths of the leader to challenge for the stage win late.

Tyler Reddick is dropping as he sits ninth.

LAP 72: Bell finally completes the pass on Hamlin for the lead with nine to go in the stage as Larson sits side-by-side with Hamlin for second.

LAP 70: Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin fight for the lead as both struggle to create an advantage over each other with the cars around them.

LAP 63: Now it’s Larson’s turn to pass Gibbs. Gibbs is struggling to manage the lap traffic as he falls to fourth.

LAP 61: Bell is back to second! He charges past teammate Gibbs to reclaim the spot after his poor pit cycle.

LAP 60: Christopher Bell passes Kyle Larson for third as the leaders continue to battle in the dirty air of lap traffic.

LAP 57: Two Las Vegas natives, Riley Herbst and Noah Gragson, battle to stay on the lead lap as Hamlin laps up to 25th.

LAP 54: The top four all sit a half second between each other as the leader Hamlin gets mired in lap traffic ahead.

LAP 50: Michael McDowell finally pits from 14th as Kyle Larson starts to find a way around Gibbs for third.

LAP 45: Christopher Bell was the biggest loser during the cycle but is back to fourth after his pass on Bubba Wallace. He is currently the fastest on track.

Kyle Larson and crew gained the most time and now sits just over a second back from the top two.

LAP 43: Just after halfway through the stage and Denny Hamlin leads Ty Gibbs after the cycle. Kyle Larson sits third with the rest of the net-top ten includes Wallace, Bell, Reddick, Byron, Blaney, Preece, and Chase Elliott.

LAP 39: Joey Logano leads the group splitting the stage in half. Hocevar, Chastain, Keselowski, and Suarez join him in the strategy.

LAP 36: Christopher Bell comes down pit road but gave up time the previous lap from the pitting Hamlin. He rejoins in net-sixth.

Chase Briscoe and Justin Allgaier both have pit road speeding penalties.

LAP 34: Leader Denny Hamlin comes down pit raod shortly after lapping Cody Ware. Bell retakes the lead momentarily.

LAP 33: Tire falloff is starting to take effect as Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe, and more begin the pit cycle.

LAP 28: Kyle Larson completes his pass on Tyler Reddick to retake fourth but he new chases the fastest man on track in Ty Gibbs for third

LAP 25: Shane van Gisbergen is impersonating a rock. After starting in the top twenty he runs 33rd now.

Meanwhile in the top five, Kyle Larson is back on the bumper of Reddick for fourth.

LAP 22: Fitting for the lap but Joey Logano has moved up to 15th from his 21st starting position. Carson Hocevar is not far behind after his lackluster qualifying position.

LAP 20: Bell is staying within touching distance of the leader Denny Hamlin. Hamlin currently holds the fastest lap of the race coming on the second lap of the race.

LAP 16: Tyler Reddick is on the move again, this time passing Kyle Larson for fourth.

LAP 14: Justin Allgaier, who’s filling in for Alex Bowman, passes a fading van Gisbergen for 26th.

LAP 10: The battle for third between Ty Gibbs and Kyle Larson heats up as the tires start to wear. Tyler Reddick passes teammate Bubba Wallace for fifth.

LAP 7: Much of the top ten has spaced themselves out as Hamlin leads Bell by a half second.

LAP 3: Denny Hamlin takes the lead from Christopher Bell.

LAP 1: Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin lead the field to green as the inside line prevails into turn one.

Shane van Gisbergen saves his car from a spin exiting turn four!

Race Start

Christopher Bell starts from the pole to match his two spring Las Vegas victories. He topped both practice and qualifying sessions and lines up beside teammate Denny Hamlin on the front row.

Ty Gibbs continues his positive momentum from Phoenix and starts third as Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota has shown single-lap and long-run speed yesterday.

Fresh off his O’Reilly Series win yesterday, Kyle Larson leads all Chevrolets and starts fifth while Ryan Blaney leads all Fords to green alongside him in sixth.

Four drivers lost their car chiefs and pit selection after failing tech twice. They include William Byron, Austin Cindric, Ty Dillon, and AJ Allmendinger.

• Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube
• Broadcast: FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
• Distance: 267 laps
  • Stages: 80 / 165 / 267
  • Fuel Window: 64 laps
• Average time of race: 2:57:55
• Pit road speed: 45 mph
• Caution car speed: 55 mph