Following Denny Hamlin's first win of the season on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver now has six wins at the Virginia short track and 55 in his NASCAR Cup Series career, which is tied for 11th-most all time with Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace.
Hamlin pulled away over the course of the final 75-lap green-flag run to the finish, winning by 4.6 seconds over teammate Christopher Bell. With 23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace in third, Toyota swept the top three spots over Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson. In total, Hamlin led 274 of the 400 laps, including all but one of the final 275 laps in a dominant showing for the veteran driver.
Updated Cup Series standings after Cook Out 400 at Martinsville
While Hamlin's win moved him up the points standings to sixth, Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron still holds a 16-point lead over Larson despite a disappointing 22nd-place result on Sunday. Chase Elliott (-32), Bell (-35) and Alex Bowman (-35) round out a top five that consists of all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers. Hamlin (-41), Tyler Reddick (-46), Bubba Wallace (-51), Joey Logano (-60) and Ryan Blaney (-66) complete the top 10.
Notable drivers outside the top 10 in include Kyle Busch (16th), Daniel Suarez (21st), Brad Keselowski (30th) and Shane van Gisbergen (34th). Keep in mind, a win will most likely guarantee a driver a playoff spot with 16 spots up for grabs. After Martinsville, Byron, Bell, Josh Berry, Larson and Hamlin are the season's five race winners. Currently, that 16th and final spot for postseason eligibility goes to Michael McDowell (+9) over Busch. Busch is 16th in the overall standings, but with Berry's win at Las Vegas, he goes from 19th to the top of the playoff leaderboard. Obviously, things are going to change, but that is the position drivers currently find themselves in after Martinsville.
One thing to keep in mind is the importance of both regular-season points standings and playoff standings. While drivers with wins vault to the top of the points standings and guarantee themselves a playoff spot, assuming there are no more than 16 winners, the overall points are equally important. The regular-season champion by season's end will earn an additional 15 playoff points, second place will get 10 and drivers third-10th in points will receive points in descending order all the way down to one point for 10th.