The seventh race of the NASCAR Cup Series schedule took us to the hills of Virginia and Martinsville Speedway, the half-mile oval known for special moments in NASCAR history.
Christopher Bell started on the pole as all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, William Byron, and Alex Bowman were all in the top 10 as the green flag dropped. After leading the first 25 laps, Bell surrendered the lead to Elliott, who had the makings of a great race call early on in the 80-lap first stage.
Two cautions were fired off in Stage 1, but Joey Logano’s decision to stay out after the second one proved to pay off as the 22 Shell Mustang took the Stage One victory in Martinsville.
In Stage 2, the story was very similar to Stage 1 as the driving was clean and competitive, with Elliott and Hamlin waiting back and forth for the lead during the 100-lap stretch. Hamlin took the lead halfway through the second stage and held it until the lead as the Virginia native now has led over 2,500 laps at Martinsville, the most by any driver. He then captured his eighth stage win on the half-mile track, also the most of all drivers.
In the final stage, Hamlin continued to dominate on this track while there were a couple of incidents with drivers spinning out from contact, including Joey Logano, who looked to be a competitor in this race.
In the end, it was Hamlin winning for the sixth time in his home state and the 55th win of his career after leading 274 of the 400 laps in the Cookout 400. Christopher Bell finished second, Bubba Wallace 3rd, Chase Elliott 4th, and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five.
