Tears of triumph: Denny Hamlin wins emotional race in Las Vegas, secures championship spot

LAS VEGAS (AP) — With tears in his eyes and needing a moment to compose himself, Denny Hamlin collected his sixth checkered flag and reflected on everything it meant.

The victory Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was the 60th of his career — a lifetime goal he dedicated to his ailing father — and it gave him the first of the four spots in NASCAR’s winner-take-all championship finale.

Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner considered the greatest driver to never win a Cup Series title, is back in the championship race for the first time since 2021. He’s Joe Gibbs Racing’s winningest driver and now Toyota’s, as well.

The 44-year-old Virginia driver is tied for 10th on NASCAR’s career victories list with Kevin Harvick.

Hamlin couldn’t hold back the tears after a frantic final 10-lap drive to run down Kyle Larson and then JGR teammate Chase Briscoe. Two weeks ago, he thought he had his 60th win locked up at Kansas Speedway and was bitterly disappointed to come up short and mentioned letting down his ailing father.

He made good on it two weeks later at Las Vegas in what may be the most important win of his career. He said the win was for his 75-year-old father, who also was rooting for his son to hit the 60-win mark.

“You know, he’s just not doing well, you know, he’s the one that got me into racing and took me to a racetrack when I was five,” Hamlin said. “Then made all the sacrifices financially to keep me going, sold everything we had, we almost lost our house a couple times to just try to keep it going.

“I’m glad he was able to see 60. That was so important to me.”

Hamlin took four tires on the final restart and restarted in fifth before slicing his way through traffic. He first got past Joey Logano, who had only two new tires, needed a few laps to run down Larson on the inside, and then finally took the lead from Briscoe, who was also only on two tires.

This is the deepest in the playoffs new crew chief Chris Gayle has ever advanced and Hamlin credited adjustments on the final pit stop for getting him his seventh win of the season — most since 2020.

“Just putting down all the factors, I just can’t imagine there’s a win bigger for me than this one,” Hamlin said.

Joe Gibbs, who lost both his sons before they turned 50, was touched by Hamlin’s dedication.

“I know one of the things he shared there was his dad. That was emotional for everybody,” Gibbs said.

Larson, seeking to end a 20-race losing streak, was second in a Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. JGR drivers Christopher Bell and and Briscoe were third and fourth, Tyler Reddick who drives for Hamlin at 23XI Racing was fifth, and reigning Cup Series champion Logano was sixth.

Five of the top six — only Reddick — are still in the playoff field. The others are Chase Elliott, who finished 18th; Daytona 500 winner William Byron was 36th and Ryan Blaney was last in 38th.

Byron was out front and then wiggled out of the groove with 35 laps remaining, saved his Chevrolet from crashing, but teammate Larson sailed past him for the lead. Minutes later he was involved in a race-ending crash when he drilled into the back of Ty Dillon, unaware that Dillon was slowing to head to pit road.

“I never saw him wave, I had no indication he was pitting,” Byron said. “I had zero idea. I am just devastated. Obviously, I wouldn't have driven full-speed into him.”

The bottom four drivers in the playoff standings with two races remaining in this round are Byron, Elliott, Logano and Blaney.

Blaney, second in points at the start of the race, saw his title hopes take a severe hit when a tire issue caused him to crash into the wall with nine laps remaining in the first stage.

His race immediately ended, he finished 38th and dropped to the bottom of the eight-driver playoff round. Blaney is the 2023 Cup Series champion, with teammate Joey Logano winning titles in 2022 and 2024 to give Team Penske three straight.

The upside is Blaney races next at Talladega Superspeedway, where he's a three-time winner and considers himself to be in a must-win situation.

“You’ve got to be optimistic. I’m not very happy right now, but tomorrow morning I’ll be optimistic to go to the next race,” Blaney said. “We’ve had good success at the next two events, so hopefully we can come and bring the speed and try to overcome the hole we put ourselves in.”

Reddick, who was eliminated from the playoffs last weekend, is still racing despite serious health complications facing his infant son.

Rookie Reddick, the second son born to Tyler and Alexa Reddick in May, has a “tumor that’s ‘choking’ the renal vein & renal artery. Telling the heart ‘Hey I’m not getting enough blood… pump harder,'" Alexa Reddick wrote in an update last week. She said it had caused an enlarged heart and the 4-month-old will need a kidney removed because doctors determined it is no longer functioning.

Alexa Reddick posted on social media ahead of Sunday's race at Las Vegas that Rookie will have surgery Tuesday and will be moved to a unit to “monitor his heart and BP while his renin slowly drops.”

Rob Edwards, the longtime team principal of the Andretti Global IndyCar program, made his NASCAR debut this weekend in his new role with the overall ownership group.

Edwards will transition into the role of chief performance officer for TWG Motorsports, the Dan-Towriss led organization that owns teams in NASCAR, IndyCar, IMSA, Formula E and will launch the new Cadillac F1 team next season.

Edwards as part of his new role will be part of all of TWG's properties — a move he told The Associated Press on Sunday he was excited for as its a new challenge after nearly three decades in IndyCar. He anticipates attending about a half-dozen NASCAR races next year with Spire Motorsports, where Towriss is now the majority owner.

Andretti Global last month named Ron Ruzewski, one of three fired Team Penske executives from an Indianapolis 500 scandal in May, as its new IndyCar team principal.

NASCAR races next Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, where Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is the defending race winner. Stehouse is not part of the playoff field.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Drivers, including Denny Hamlin, lower right, compete on the front straightaway during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Steve Marcus)

Ryan Growney, center right, general manager of the South Point Hotel and Casino, presents the trophy to Denny Hamlin, center left, in Victory Lane after Hamlin won a NASCAR Cup Series auto race Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Steve Marcus)

Denny Hamlin celebrates in victory lane after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Steve Marcus)

Denny Hamlin performs a burnout after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Steve Marcus)

Denny Hamlin picks up the checkered flag after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Steve Marcus)

Denny Hamlin celebrates in victory lane after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Steve Marcus)

Drivers race out of Turn 4 during a NASCAR Cup Series auto race Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Steve Marcus)

Drivers get the green flag at the start of a NASCAR Cup Series auto race Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Steve Marcus)

COTONOU, Benin (AP) — Benin President Patrice Talon on Sunday condemned an attempted coup that was foiled by the country's army in his first public comments since sporadic gunfire was heard in parts of the administrative capital, Cotonou.

A group of soldiers appeared on Benin ’s state TV earlier Sunday to announce the dissolution of the government in an apparent coup, which would have been the latest of many in West Africa. The group called itself the Military Committee for Refoundation.

Later, Interior Minister Alassane Seidou announced in a video on Facebook that the attempted coup had been “foiled,” but Talon, whose location was unclear, did not comment.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to express my condolences to the victims of this senseless adventure, as well as to those still being held by the fleeing mutineers,” the president said in a televised address to the nation that ended his silence. "I assure them that we will do everything in our power to find them safe and sound.”

The coup attempt is the latest in a string of military takeovers and attempted takeovers that have rocked West Africa. Last month, a military coup in Guinea-Bissau removed former President Umaro Embalo after a contested election in which both he and the opposition candidate declared themselves winners.

Talon did not provide figures on casualties or hostages in Sunday's attempted coup.

“In the early morning of Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, a small group of soldiers launched a mutiny to destabilize the state and its institutions,” Seidou said. “Faced with this situation, the Beninese Armed Forces and their leadership, true to their oath, remained committed to the republic.”

The regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, said it ordered the deployment of troops from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Ghana to support Benin's army to “preserve constitutional order and the territorial integrity of the Republic of Benin.”

ECOWAS earlier called the attempted coup “a subversion of the will of the people of Benin.”

Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu praised the Nigerian armed forces for their involvement in restoring the government in Benin. In a statement by the Nigerian government's spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga said Benin's government made two separate requests for air and ground forces.

“It took some hours before the government’s loyal forces, assisted by Nigeria, took control and flushed out the coup plotters from the National TV,” Onanuga said in the statement.

Local media reported the arrest of 13 soldiers who took part in the coup earlier on Sunday, citing sources close to the presidency. It remained unclear if Lt. Col. Pascal Tigri, the coup leader, had been apprehended. Gunfire was heard and soldiers were seen patrolling in some locations in Cotonou, but the city has been relatively calm since the coup attempt was announced.

The Military Committee for Refoundation earlier said that Tigri was appointed president of the military committee.

Following its independence from France in 1960, the West African nation witnessed multiple coups. Since 1991, the country has been politically stable following the two-decade rule of Marxist-Leninist Mathieu Kérékou.

The signal to the state television and public radio, which was cut off, was later restored.

Talon has been in power since 2016 and is due to step down next April after a presidential election.

Talon’s party pick, former Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni, is the favorite to win the election. Opposition candidate Renaud Agbodjo was rejected by the electoral commission on the grounds that he did not have sufficient sponsors.

In January, two associates of Talon were sentenced to 20 years in prison for an alleged 2024 coup plot.

Last month, the country’s legislature extended the presidential term of office from five to seven years, keeping the term limit at two.

——

Adetayo reported from Lagos, Nigeria.

People gather near a roadway amid an attempted coup in Cotonou, Benin, Sunday Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo)

People on motorcycles pass by soldiers guarding a street amid an attempted coup in Cotonou Benin, Sunday Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo)

Soldiers ride in a military vehicle along a street amid an attempted coup in Cotonou Benin, Sunday Dec. 7, 2025. (AP Photo)

FILE - Benin's President Patrice Talon attends a meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at Planalto presidential palace in Brasilia, Brazil, on May 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)