Denny Hamlin is off to the Round of 12 after scoring his 59th career Cup Series win at World Wide Technology Raceway.
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The Joe Gibbs Racing driver did not have the fastest car on Sunday afternoon. Yet, he took advantage of strategy and timing. His four-tire pit stop with 45 laps remaining in the race turned out to be the better call than Chase Briscoe's two-tire stop, and then he jumped ahead of Brad Keselowski on the final restart of the race.
MORE: Denny Hamlin wins, full results
Hamlin led the final 25 laps, taking his total to a race-high 75 on the day. He crossed the finish line 1.62 seconds ahead of Briscoe, who won last weekend's Southern 500. Hamlin punched his ticket to the Round of 12 and added a crucial five playoff points to his total.
DENNY HAMLIN WINS IN ST. LOUIS! pic.twitter.com/XQ0mwRtH67
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) September 7, 2025
Oh, Hamlin also scored Toyota's 200th Cup Series win in the process.
"You can either get on the bandwagon or get run over by it," Hamlin said to the booing fans at World Wide Technology Raceway.
The rest of the top 10 included Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, John Hunter Nemechek, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, Chris Buescher, and Ty Gibbs.
Multiple playoff drivers capitalized during the race outside of St. Louis. Hamlin topped the list by scoring his fifth win of the season. Briscoe, for comparison, added one more playoff point by winning the opening stage. He then crossed the line in second place to keep himself in a strong points position.
Wallace similarly delivered a points-heavy day. He scored 15 stage points and won the second stage. This gave him one more playoff point heading into the Round of 16 cutoff race at Bristol Motor Speedway. He moved to fourth in the playoff standings.
Larson led the field with 16 stage points before finishing 12th. He left WWT Raceway third in the playoff standings. He has an opportunity to advance to the Round of 12 on points, but he also has won the last two races at Bristol.
One particular driver who took advantage of his best track was Logano. The reigning champion entered the Round of 16 race below the cutline. He went out and scored eight stage points before finishing fifth. This marked the fourth consecutive time that he finished fifth or better at the 1.25-mile track.
Logano now has a 21-point cushion to the cutline entering the Round of 16 cutoff race. He now leads Ross Chastain (+11), Austin Dillon (-11), Shane van Gisbergen (-15), Alex Bowman (-35), and Josh Berry (-45). This sets Logano up with yet another opportunity to survive and advance, something he keeps doing in the elimination era.
Elliott, the 2020 Cup Series champion, didn't have the cleanest day. He made contact with Berry and sent the Wood Brothers Racing driver into the wall. But he scored crucial points by finishing inside the top 10 in the first two stages. He then finished the race in third to lock up 38 points. Elliott is now 28 points above the cutline.
