51ºÚÁÏ

MADISON, Ill. — Denny Hamlin finally got over the hump.

The 44-year-old managed to shed his runner-up tag by rolling to victory in the Enjoy Illinois 300 on Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison.

Hamlin finished second in each of the past two races at Gateway.

This time around, the pole-sitter jumped to the lead off a restart on Lap 161 and never looked back in the 240-lap event.

“I still don’t feel like I’m the best here,� Hamlin said. “We just had a nice solid day on pit road.�

A native of Tampa, Florida, Hamlin finished 1.62 seconds ahead of Chase Briscoe in the NASCAR Cup Series affair. Chase Elliott, who started 19th, rallied to finish third.

A sold-out grandstand crown enjoyed a three-hour, three-minute see-saw race that featured 15 lead changes and 10 cautions.

Briscoe won the first stage. Bubba Wallace captured the second stage and led for 73 laps around the 1.25-mile, egg-shaped oval.

Hamlin and his crew masterfully worked around several cautions, including one with just 31 laps remaining.

He picked up his series-best fifth win of the season and 59th of his career. He stands 11th in all-time Cup Series victories. Richard Petty leads the way with 200 wins.

“I’ve got some talent,� Hamlin said. “But it’s the working part is how I separate (myself).�

The race was the second in the NASCAR playoff series, which will shift to Bristol, Tennessee, on Saturday.

Hamlin, in his No. 11 Progressive Toyota, picked up the first win at the track for Joe Gibbs Racing. He finished second to Austin Cindric last season and served as runner-up to Kyle Busch in 2023.

Gibbs, who coached the Washington Redskins from 1981-1992, still remembers his NFL days in this area.

“I love coming to 51ºÚÁÏ,â€� Gibbs said. “Spent some time chasing the Cardiac Cards around.â€�

The race was not without a little bad blood. Kyle Larson appeared to intentionally bump Ryan Blaney on the 135th lap, causing Blaney to spin out. Blaney got back in the race and finished fourth.

Busch, who won this race in 2023, spun out and nicked the wall on the 27th lap. The miscue helped push his winless streak to a career-long 85 races.

Actor and comedian Bill Murray fired up the crowd using a Carl Spackler voice from the movie “Caddyshack� to command the drivers to start their engines. He was selected as the Grand Marshal of the race and wore a Chicago Cubs baseball cap.

Murray poked his head into Hamlin’s car right before the race.

“He wanted to run me through 20 questions as I was trying to get my helmet on,� Hamlin said. “A lot of interesting things.�

Young phenom keeps rolling

Connor Zilisch recorded his fourth successive Xfinity Series triumph Saturday night in the Nu Way 200.

The 19-year-old secured the regular-season championship with his seventh win in the past eight races and his ninth overall.

“This is going to be tough to keep up,� Zilisch said. “It’s rare that you can go on a run like this.�

It was the first time World Wide Technology Raceway hosted an Xfinity Series race since 2010.

Zilisch, who led for 121 of the 160 laps, grabbed the lead and danced his way through a series of restarts down the stretch to hold off William Sawalich.

A native of Charlotte, North Carolina, Zilisch’s impressive rookie campaign has earned him a berth in the NASCAR Cup Series next season. He will be driving for Trackhouse Racing.

Zilisch’s run is even more impressive considering he has been driving with a broken collarbone, suffered while celebrating a win at Watkins Glen International in August.

He became only the fourth Xfinity Series driver to win four in a row, joining Sam Ard (1983) and Noah Gragson (2020).

“Every weekend, we show up, and we’re (in) a winning race car,� Zilisch said. “My team executes. Everybody does their job.�

The Xfinity playoff chase begins Friday with the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee.

Justin Allgaier from Riverton, Illinois, about 90 miles north of World Wide Technology Raceway, finished 28th in the 38-car field after being involved in a 10-car accident on Lap 135.