“(It) is going to be a big deal for myself and the team this year,” Denny Hamlin said ahead of the Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead Miami Speedway. The ‘big deal’ appeared after the Joe Gibbs Racing driver struck a new partnership with Progressive – a $159 Billion insurance company. With the new blue colors on his No. 11 Toyota Camry, Hamlin put on a show.
The JGR driver has started 2025 on a fairly decent note, fetching three top-ten finishes already. But ever since the playoff race in Homestead-Miami last October, Denny Hamlin had not won a stage. That wish was fulfilled at the South Florida track this past weekend, as Hamlin continues alternating good finishes with average runs this season.
Denny Hamlin beams at his new pace
A string of heartbreaking incidents befell the No. 11 JGR team over the past few weeks. At Phoenix Raceway, Denny Hamlin chafed under the pressure of his teammate beating him – Christopher Bell won by a 0.049-second gap. Then in Las Vegas, NASCAR slapped Hamlin with a pit road speeding penalty that axed his day. Hamlin’s finishes so far have been three top-10s sandwiched with three finishes outside the top 20! So the veteran placed his hopes on Homestead-Miami Speedway, a place where he owns three wins and 7 top-five finishes. With the blessing of Progressive on his race car, Hamlin pulled off a solid day – despite starting 23rd.
During the first stage, Denny Hamlin was still pacing himself, slowly moving up the track. And by lap 104, Hamlin passed Alex Bowman for second place! Then a jaw-dropping competition ensued in the closing laps of stage 2, as Hamlin put up a fight with Kyle Larson. Ryan Blaney, leader of the race-high 124 laps, got stalled by lap traffic as Hamlin got away with the stage win. So Hamlin declared to pit reporter Jamie Little in a post-race interview: “Yeah, I mean, a solid day.” He hailed his 11 team for improving itself: “Overall, a great job by Chris and the whole progressive team to bring me a car to battle back and obviously win stage 2 there and at least get ten. So certainly a lot better.” However, the fact remains that Denny Hamlin could not win the race, although he did lead 15 laps, his most at any points-paying race this season. But it was at the stage 2 restart where the race got away from him.
A solid day in Miami for Denny Hamlin and the No. 11 team. @JamieLittleTV | #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/sIEBAXsNsO
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 23, 2025
After winning the stage, he fell back as Kyle Larson grabbed the lead on the restart. Hamlin could stick around in the top five till the end, finishing fifth, but he could not enter the front-end battle that ensued among Larson, Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman, and others. The #11 thus conceded that he had scope to improve: “Just needed a little bit more speed there at the end, We would have runs there where I thought it was a top-three car and runs where it ended right there. It was like you know, a fringe top-five.” He added, “Just gotta work on the little stuff to be slightly better to run the kind of speed it takes to win here.”
While Denny Hamlin was content with his own pace, he also felt great as a team owner, as both the 23XI Racing drivers fetched top-ten finishes!
It was a Toyota affair
Well, Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman occupied the front row, but trailing close behind them at the finish line was a bevy of Toyota drivers. Bubba Wallace, Chase Briscoe, and Denny Hamlin made up the top five – and defending race winner Tyler Reddick washed up in 8th place. Wallace, the No. 23 23XI Racing driver, put up a dazzling race day. He started in 9th place and cracked the top ten by stage 2 – fetching a top-five finish there. On lap 176, he waged a battle with race leader Kyle Larson and emerged victorious. As Larson got the lead on the restart, Wallace drove under him to take the top spot and put several car lengths of distance between them. On lap 234, Alex Bowman slid past Wallace and the latter kept hounding him.
Ultimately, Bubba Wallace could not outsmart the Hendrick Motorsports duo and finished 3rd. However, Denny Hamlin’s driver was beaming with pride post-race. “All in all, what a day. Finally got us a good finish! But we need to go back and look at it if I burned my stuff up to start there… I got into the fence there and allowed him (Alex Bowman) to get beside me… Hate that I messed that up but I came over the radio and said, ‘I haven’t been in many situations like that to give away a race so I learned a lot today.’ I can’t even hang my head over that finish. Proud of the effort in race six.”
Bubba Wallace’s strong finish comes after a string of 20, 28, and 29 in his last three races, marking a significant improvement. This was also Bubba’s first top-10 since Atlanta, as 23XI Racing continues to figure out its strategy. Don’t let the finishes blind you though, Wallace led laps at Daytona, COTA, and Las Vegas, but didn’t drive well enough to close out a race at the top. He has also accrued stage points in every race this season apart from Phoenix, showcasing the speed that we all know he has.
23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin can look forward to enjoying his team’s good finishes along with his at Homestead-Miami. Let us see how the Toyota group performs in the following races.
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