Denny Hamlin joined Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe in the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs with a victory from the pole position at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Earning his series-leading fifth win this season and the 59th of his career, Hamlin led a race-high 75 of 240 laps, including the last 25 at the track commonly known as Gateway. It’s his fifth season with at least five victories and first since the 2020 season.
After winning the Southern 500 playoff opener, Briscoe finished second at Gateway, followed by Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano as playoff drivers swept the top five spots.
MORE: Click here for Gateway results l Click here for the cumulative report l Click here for race notes l Click here for the penalty report
MORE: Click here for Cup driver points l Click here for Cup owner points
With Hamlin and Briscoe having clinced second-round berths, here are the other 10 drivers above the cutline heading into the first-round finale Sept. 13 at Bristol Motor Speedway: Kyle Larson (plus-60), Bubba Wallace (plus-50), Blaney (plus-42), William Byron (plus-39), Tyler Reddick (plus-37), Christopher Bell (plus-32), Elliott (plus-28), Joey Logano (plus-21), Ross Chastain (plus-19) and Austin Cindric (plus-11).
Below the cutline are Austin Dillon (minus-11), Shane van Gisbergen (minus-15), Alex Bowman (minus-35) and Josh Berry (minus-45).
Here’s the finishing order at WWTR Gateway:
1. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota
2. Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Toyota
3. Chase Elliott, No. 9 Chevrolet
4. Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Ford
5. Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford
6. John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Toyota
7. Christopher Bell, No. 20 Toyota
8. Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Toyota
9. Chris Buescher, No. 17 Ford
10. Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Toyota
11. William Byron, No. 24 Chevrolet
12. Kyle Larson, No. 5 Chevrolet
13. Ryan Preece, No. 60 Ford
14. Michael McDowell, No. 71 Chevrolet
15. Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Chevrolet
16. Tyler Reddick, No. 45 Toyota
17. Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Ford
18. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet
19. Austin Cindric, No. 2 Ford
20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Chevrolet
21. Erik Jones, No. 43 Toyota
22. Kyle Busch, No. 8 Chevrolet
23. AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Chevrolet
24. Ross Chastain, No. 1 Chevrolet
25. Shane Van Gisbergen, No. 88 Chevrolet
26. Alex Bowman, No. 48 Chevrolet
27. Cole Custer, No. 41 Ford
28. Justin Haley, No. 7 Chevrolet
29. Cody Ware, No. 51 Ford
30. Noah Gragson, No. 4 Ford
31. Riley Herbst, No. 35 Toyota
32. Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Ford
33. Zane Smith, No. 38 Ford
34. Ty Dillon, No. 10 Chevrolet
35. Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Chevrolet
36. Josh Berry, No. 21 Ford
