Denny Hamlin gets 200th NASCAR Cup win for Toyota in Gateway race
MADISON, Ill. — Denny Hamlin earned the 200th NASCAR Cup Series win for Toyota in Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.
Hamlin led four times for 75 laps, including the final 25, to pick up the milestone win. He tied former teammate Kyle Busch for the most Cup wins with Toyota by a single driver (56). He did a massive burnout to celebrate in front of fans who booed and cheered for him.
“You can boo me or you can get on the bandwagon,” Hamlin told USA Network.
Hamlin now has 59 wins in his NASCAR Cup Series career that began in 2006. He still is chasing a championship but his fifth win of the 2025 is a big boost toward that.
Chase Briscoe, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, John Hunter Nemechek, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, Chris Buescher and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top 10.
Blaney finished fourth after getting spun by Kyle Larson on lap 136.
“I just wanted to know what I did to deserve it. He said he made a mistake. You make mistakes but he came from the bottom of the track and turned me,” Blaney said to USA. “That’s just one I’ll have to remember.”
Gateway turned into a race Larson won’t want to remember. He finished 12th after having a fast car and finishing top-five in each of the first two stages. An incident on the lap 156 restart dropped the diffuser flap and forced him to pit when he didn’t need to.
“I told him I messed up. I wasn’t meaning to go in there and hit him. The lap before, I slid in there and got to his door and raced him down the frontstretch. I was trying to do that again but I just misjudged. It wasn’t intentional, I hope he understands that,” Larson said to USA.
Larson (12th) and eighth other playoff drivers finished outside of the top 10 at Gateway: William Byron (11th), Tyler Reddick (16th), Austin Dillon (18th), Austin Cindric (19th), Ross Chastain (24th), Shane van Gisbergen (25th), Alex Bowman (26th), Josh Berry (36th).
SVG and Bowman had speeding penalties late in the race that put them back in the pack with Chastain, who had an untimely caution on lap 210 that trapped him a lap down and forced him to get the free pass.
STAGE ONE TOP-10 (LAP 45): Chase Briscoe, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, Zane Smith, Chase Elliott.
STAGE TWO TOP-10 (LAP 140): Bubba Wallace, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Austin Dillon, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, John Hunter Nemechek, Ross Chastain.
NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings after Gateway
- Denny Hamlin: WIN
- Chase Briscoe: WIN
- Kyle Larson: +60 points to the cutline
- Bubba Wallace +50
- Ryan Blaney +42
- William Byron +39
- Tyler Reddick +37
- Christopher Bell +32
- Chase Elliott +28
- Joey Logano +21
- Ross Chastain +19
- Austin Cindric +11
- Austin Dillon: 2043 (-11)
- Shane van Gisbergen -15
- Alex Bowman -35
- Josh Berry -45
Next up is the Bristol Night Race, 7:30 p.m. ET, Sept. 13, on USA Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90 and Motor Racing Network affiliates. Kyle Larson won last year and in the spring.
Here is an archive of the live race updates on the NASCAR Cup Series’ Enjoy Illinois 300 from World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.
FINAL STAGE
TOP 10 (5 TO GO): Hamlin, Briscoe, Elliott, Blaney, Logano, Nemechek, Bell, Wallace, Buescher, Gibbs.
LAP 230: Bubba Wallace is up to seventh and William Byron is up to 11th. Denny Hamlin leads by 1.7 seconds.
LAP 219: Ryan Blaney makes a three-wide pass to get fourth from Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.
Top 10: Hamlin, Briscoe, Elliott, Blaney, Logano, Keselowski, Nemechek, Buescher, Wallace, Bell.
LAP 210: Keselowski, Hamlin, Briscoe, Logano, Elliott, Bell, Buescher, Gibbs, Nemechek, Busch, Blaney did not pit. SVG and Austin Dillon leave pit road first with two fresh tires, ahead of Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson, Michael McDowell, William Byron and Austin Cindric in 17th… after SVG sped on pit road. To the rear. Restart coming with lap 215.
Alex Bowman will go to the rear of the field for speeding on the stop before so this pit stop is moot.
LAP 206: Bowman decided to pit for a short fill along with Ryan Blaney. Caution flies for Ty Dillon in the wall in turn 1 right after that! Great break for Brad Keselowski and Michael McDowell who stayed out.
Brad Keselowski has pulled a 1.1 second gap on Alex Bowman after passing him. William Byron is 2.7 seconds behind Bowman. Byron has a 1.3 second lead on Kyle Larson and a 2.6 second lead on Bubba Wallace. That is all for the win with 35 to go. Ryan Blaney pits a lap later, along with Alex Bowman.
Ross Chastain pits on lap 200, Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott on lap 201.
LAP 199: Chase Briscoe jumps ahead of Denny Hamlin with a two-tire call. Hamlin stays ahead of Joey Logano. Briscoe, Hamlin and Logano are set to be 1-2-3 among themselves. Briscoe was eighth before his stop.
Byron and Larson get by Bubba for what could be the race for the win if it stays green. They are the best on fuel but Bowman and Keselowski could make it too.
Hamlin, Logano and Briscoe pit. Briscoe first on lap 193, Hamlin on lap 195, Logano on lap 196.
LAP 190: Joey Logano is getting a taste of his own medicine. He is all over the bumper of leader Denny Hamlin but can’t get by him.
The top 8 and 10th pitted with 105 to go… Hamlin, Logano, Elliott, Bell, Gibbs, Nemechek, Blaney, Buescher, Busch. Briscoe (9th) pitted with 98 to go. Bowman, Keselowski are 11th and 12th and pitted with 89 to go. Bubba, Byron are 17th and 18th and pitted with 83 to go. Larson is 19th and pitted with 82 to go.
Bowman and Keselowski will need to save some fuel to make it to the end. Bubba, Byron and Larson are in a better spot. Larson is in the best spot.
LAP 175: Tyler Reddick runs 33rd with a possible gear issue. He is told to save fuel. Top 10 is now Hamlin, Logano, Elliott, Bell, Gibbs, Nemechek, Blaney, Buescher, Briscoe, Busch.
Kyle Larson’s team topped off on fuel as he pitted for the diffuser coming down. Crew chief Cliff Daniels said, “We are going to be very close to making it from here. This thing is far from over, we have about 15 cars that will pit but we won’t have to again if we save.”
TOP-10, LAP 161: Hamlin, Logano, Nemechek, Elliott, Buescher, Gibbs, Bell, Z. Smith, Blaney, Busch.
LAP 158: Bubba, Larson, Cindric, Byron, Stenhouse, Reddick, Hocevar, Austin Dillon and Erik Jones pit. This is just outside of their fuel window — 75 laps.
LAP 156: Bubba Wallace did not get going and jumbles up the field, Shane van Gisbergen spins in turn three from 18th! Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott and John Hunter Nemechek now run ahead of Bubba Wallace. It looked like William Byron and Tyler Reddick had trouble in the same corner. Wallace’s car was stuck in gear.
LAP 150: Caution for one of the brake markers falling off of the wall. Wallace, Larson, Logano, Hamlin, Bell, Nemechek, Cindric, Elliott, Byron and Chastain are the top 10.
The final stage is 100 laps to the checkered flag. Under caution on lap 144, Keselowski, Austin Dillon, Briscoe, Bowman, Gilliland, Haley and McDowell pit for tires and fuel. The fuel window is 75 laps so they likely can’t make it to the end of the race unless there is a serious rash of cautions, a la what happened at Iowa Speedway a few weeks ago.
The top 10 is now: Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, John Hunter Nemechek, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric and Chris Buescher. Tyler Reddick and William Byron run 11th and 12th. Playoff driver Shane van Gisbergen has recovered to 17th.
STAGE TWO WINNER: Bubba Wallace
STAGE TWO TOP-10 (LAP 140): Bubba Wallace, Keselowski, Logano, Larson, Bell, Austin Dillon, Hamlin, Elliott, Nemechek, Chastain.
Alex Bowman finished 24th in the stage after his team didn’t get the left-rear tire secure. Ryan Blaney finished 17th after the incident with Larson.
LAP 136: Kyle Larson turns Ryan Blaney! Larson drove it hard into turn three and drifted into Blaney. Blaney is HEATED on the radio but cooled down after pitted.
LAP 127: Bell (2nd), Larson (6th), Byron (13th), Reddick (14th), Elliott (15th), Gibbs (17th), Busch (21st), Hocevar (22nd), Jones (23rd), Herbst (24th) and Zane Smith (25th) can take less fuel during the upcoming stage break. Look for them to make up some spots.
LAP 114: Christopher Bell finally gets third from Denny Hamlin behind Joey Logano. Kyle Larson also took Alex Bowman for sixth on lap 112.
LAP 94: Bubba Wallace leads Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman and Christopher Bell, who restarted 18th and drove through the field on new tires. Rounding out the top 10 are John Hunter Nemechek, Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson and Austin Cindric. Larson also is on new tires.
LAP 77: Bell is the first off pit road, then it’s Elliott, Larson, Reddick, Hocevar, Jones, Gibbs. The top 17 didn’t pit, led by Bubba, Logano, Hamlin and Bowman. Then it’s the 2, 12, 42, 6, 1, 17, 71, 47, 35, 4, 60, 34 and 19. They all pitted on lap 61 thereabout.
LAP 76: Caution for Ty Dillon crashing in turn one. Looks like his brother Austin turned him (awkward…) Now everyone can make it on fuel to the end of Stage 2.
Austin Dillon: “I got f-cking loose, I don’t ever wanna do that. I’m so sorry.”
Shane van Gisbergen has sunk to 24th. It looked like he had an incident with Allmendinger in turn 1 that killed his momentum. SVG reports he may have a flat tire as he drops to 26th… Lap 72.
LAP 60: Chase Briscoe locks up the brakes entering turn one and gets into Daniel Suarez while running in the middle of him and Christopher Bell. Suarez hits the outside wall and brings out the caution. Briscoe believes he may have flat-spotted his tires and pits.
Only Larson, Byron, Elliott, Zane Smith, Reddick, Erik Jones, Hocevar, Allmendinger, Bell and SVG stayed out on lap 61. Everyone has 33-lap older tires than the guys who pitted. Bell and SVG have 14-lap older tires.
Briscoe has an issue with getting the left-rear tire on. They call for four tires after the slow stop.
LAP 59: Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell are up to 15th and 16th after pitting for fresh tires. They restarted 25th and 27th.
LAP 55: Tyler Reddick is flying! He moved from 15th to sixth in just four laps on the restart. He is fast.
Briscoe, Hamlin, Bell, Blaney, Chastain, Cindric, SVG, Cindric, Stenhouse, Ware, McDowell and Haley pitted and will restart 25th through 35th. The top 10 is now Larson, Byron, Wallace, Zane Smith, Elliott, Gibbs, Jones, Buescher, Logano and Hocevar. Larson has had, by far, the fastest car.
STAGE ONE WINNER at GATEWAY: Chase Briscoe
STAGE ONE TOP-10 (LAP 45): Chase Briscoe, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, Zane Smith and Chase Elliott.
Elliott grabbed 10th with a last-corner pass on Shane van Gisbergen for the final stage point. SVG finished the stage in 12th.
LAP 44: Austin Cindric dropped to 15th on older tires after Shane van Gisbergen moved him out of the way. SVG is 10th.
LAP 36: Josh Berry crashes in turn two again and is going to the garage. That was almost deja vu of his Darlington crash a week before. Berry is now in a must-win situation at Bristol, essentially.
Top 10 is Briscoe, Hamlin, Larson, Blaney, Bell, Chastain, Byron, Wallace, Cindric, McDowell. There is under eight laps to go in the stage.
LAP 33: Kyle Larson jumps up to fourth after a bold, three-wide move on the restart on fresh tires. Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin lead as Larson goes for third on Ryan Blaney. Christopher Bell, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Michael McDowell, Bubba Wallace, William Byron and Shane van Gisbergen round out the top 11.
LAP 27: Kyle Busch spins off of turn two and taps the inside wall. He had been running 17th.
Under caution, Hamlin, Briscoe, Blaney, Bell, Chastain, Cindric, McDowell and Haley stay out. Buescher took two tires, along with Zane Smith and Shane van Gisbergen. Tyler Reddick had a loose wheel and went to the rear of the field.
LAP 16: Christopher Bell takes fifth from Ross Chastain as Ryan Blaney looks for third on Chase Briscoe who is locked into the next round of the playoffs.
LAP 14: Playoff drivers Shane van Gisbergen, Austin Dillon and Alex Bowman are outside of the top-20. SVG is 24th (-5 since the start), Dillon is 26th (-11) and Bowman is 29th (-4).
LAP 8: Kyle Larson jumps to the lead. He leads nine playoff drivers up front:
Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, Austin Cindric. Non-playoff driver Zane Smith is 10th.
Just outside of the top-10 and in the playoffs are: Josh Berry in 12th, Bubba Wallace 13th, Joey Logano 14th, Chase Elliott 19th, Shane van Gisbergen 21st, Austin Dillon 24th, Alex Bowman 29th.
LAP 6: Denny Hamlin jumped out to a quick lead over Kyle Larson but Larson has closed to his bumper.
Actor Bill Murray gave an enthralling command to get the engines fired before the Enjoy Illinois 300. Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson will start on the front row. Justin Haley will start from the rear of the field.
What to know: NASCAR Cup Series’ 2025 Enjoy Illinois 300 at Gateway
Broadcast: USA, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
240 laps / 300 miles
Stages: 45 / 140 / 240
Average time of race: 3:07:58
Pit road speed: 40 mph
Caution vehicle speed: 50 mph
Fuel Window: 75 laps
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com