NASCAR playoffs at St. Louis results: Denny Hamlin gets fifth win of 2025, Toyota's 200th victory at Gateway

Hamlin now advances to the Round of 12 as he pursues his elusive first Cup championship

By Steven Taranto

Sep 7, 2025 at 7:15 pm ET • 3 min read

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In a major step toward his pursuit of the Cup Series championship that has long eluded him, Denny Hamlin won the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway, picking up his fifth win of the 2025 season and the 200th Cup Series win for Toyota. Hamlin's victory marks Win No. 59 in his Cup career, putting him just one win shy of 60 career wins and entering a tie with Kevin Harvick for 10th on NASCAR's all-time wins list.

With a heavy emphasis on track position, Sunday's race saw a heavy emphasis placed on fuel and tire strategy, which culminated after a brake failure for Ty Dillon brought out a late race caution with 32 laps to go. With the yellow flag having come out in the middle of a green flag pit stop cycle, Hamlin was able to cycle to the front of the field as the first car on four tires, giving him a considerable tire advantage compared to no tires for Brad Keselowski and two tires for Chase Briscoe.

NASCAR playoffs 2025 race schedule, results: Complete list of Cup Series race dates, winners, tracks

Steven Taranto

Hamlin quickly disposed of Keselowski with 25 laps to go, then drove away to cruise to a win that automatically advances him to the Round of 12.

Hamlin was in an exceptionally good mood after winning from the pole, doing everything from joking about a pre-race conversation with grand marshal Bill Murray -- claiming he told him to talk to the drivers behind him and make sure they stayed behind him -- to working the crowd and staying true to his reputation as NASCAR's biggest heel.

"You know, y'all can boo me, but you can either get on the bandwagon or you can get run over by it," Hamlin said, triggering a chorus of boos that he welcomed.

"You still love the boos?"

"Bring 'em. Bring 'em all!" #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/WaUubHqAbF
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 7, 2025

Chase Briscoe would finish second, followed by Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, and Joey Logano rounding out the top five. John Hunter Nemechek, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, Chris Buescher and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top 10.

Blaney's run back to a fourth place finish was a notable one, as it mitigated a potential mid-race disaster that occurred when Kyle Larson spun Blaney while the two were racing for fifth. Blaney had a conversation with Larson about the contact in post-race, with Larson -- who finished 12th -- stressing that he "messed up" and misjudged in positioning his car.

Larson makes contact with Blaney in the middle of the corner! 😱 pic.twitter.com/b2XsQpMC8Z
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 7, 2025

Chase Elliott also had to issue a mea culpa to another playoff driver, as he would spin Josh Berry early in the race and put him in the Turn 1 wall, leaving Berry with a DNF in 36th and putting him in dire straits entering the final race of the Round of 16 at Bristol. Berry is in a deep points hole at 45 points below the Round of 12 cutoff line, where he is joined by Alex Bowman -- who is now 35 points back after major pit road problems for the second week in a row.

Austin Dillon and Shane van Gisbergen also enter the final race of the Round of 16 below the cut line, with Dillon 11 points back and Van Gisbergen 15 back. Dillon finished 18th -- doing so after an awkward mid-race moment where he spun out his younger brother Ty -- while Van Gisbergen finished 25th after a spin in Turn 3.

While Hamlin and Briscoe have both earned automatic berths in the Round of 12, Kyle Larson (+60), Bubba Wallace (+50), Ryan Blaney (+42), William Byron (+39), Tyler Reddick (+37), Christopher Bell (+32), Chase Elliott (+28), Joey Logano (+21), Ross Chastain (+19) and Austin Cindric (+11) will all enter the annual Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway -- the elimination race in the Round of 16 -- on the plus side of the cut line.