After a race-altering caution with five to go and a fast final pit stop by his crew, Denny Hamlin took the lead on the race off pit road under caution and then drove away in overtime to win the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway. Hamlin’s win is his second in a row and No. 56 of his Cup career, moving him into sole possession of 11th on NASCAR’s all-time wins list after tying Rusty Wallace a week ago at Martinsville.
Hamlin’s opportunity came with five laps to go thanks to what occurred well in front of him. After Tyler Reddick’s lap times began to fall off on older tires than Ryan Blaney, Blaney quickly ran down Reddick’s No. 45 and passed him for the lead in Turns 1 and 2 with five laps to go. But the two cars touched as Blaney made the pass, sending Reddick bouncing off the wall on the exit of Turn 2 and causing Kyle Larson to check up for him harder than Bubba Wallace was expecting him to. The ensuing collision spun Larson into the inside wall, bringing out the yellow flag and bringing all of the lead lap cars to pit road for fresh tires.
It was then that Hamlin’s No. 11 crew, the talk of the town on pit road, rose to the occasion. In recent weeks, observers have highlighted a move by Hamlin’s jackman in which he slings the jack across his back as he is passing from the right side of the car to the left, saving several steps and shaving time off Hamlin’s stops. That helped contribute to an 8.3-second final top, which gave Hamlin the lead and the clear track he needed to lead the final two laps in overtime.
“Two people I love right now: My pit crew and Kyle Larson. Had a little assist there, so thank you,” Hamlin told Fox Sports. “Man, the pit crew just did an amazing job. They won it last week, they won it this week, it’s all about them.”
William Byron would finish second, a disappointing result given he was on the verge of a potentially historic day. Byron led every one of the first 243 laps from the pole, and at one point looked to be in position to become the first driver in 25 years to lead every single lap of a Cup race. But Byron ceded the lead during the final round of green flag pit stops, and his car proved to be much different in traffic than it was out in front in clean air.
Byron could go no further than third on the final long green flag run, but prevailed in a three-car battle for the runner up spot in overtime.
“Just really proud of my team. To bring that level of effort and preparation and have a car like that and for us to execute like that, it was looking like it was gonna be a perfect race and we were gonna lead every lap,” Byron told Fox Sports. “So I was really proud of that. Those guys just could be aggressive on the other side of that green flag cycle, and we lost control there. And once we lost control, it was too late in the going to kind of get back up there.
“It sucks, I’m sure it’ll sting a lot tonight. But there’s still a lot of positives. It just stings in the moment for sure.”
Christopher Bell would finish third, followed by Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs and Kyle Busch.
On NASCAR’s Throwback Weekend, Hamlin went to Victory Lane driving a paint scheme inspired by Hall of Famer Carl Edwards’ Office Depot Ford from the late 2000s. While Edwards had joked about trying to get Hamlin to do a backflip if he won — backflips were Edwards’ signature win celebration — Hamlin did not oblige.
“I’ll pass,” Hamlin said. “If Carl’s here he’s more than welcome to jump off the car.”
Goodyear 400 results
- #11 – Denny Hamlin
- #24 – William Byron
- #20 – Christopher Bell
- #45 – Tyler Reddick
- #12 – Ryan Blaney
- #17 – Chris Buescher
- #1 – Ross Chastain
- #9 – Chase Elliott
- #54 – Ty Gibbs
- #8 – Kyle Busch
- #2 – Austin Cindric
- #38 – Zane Smith
- #22 – Joey Logano
- #34 – Todd Gilliland
- #99 – Daniel Suarez
- #10 – Ty Dillon
- #43 – Erik Jones
- #16 – A.J. Allmendinger
- #4 – Noah Gragson
- #88 – Shane van Gisbergen (R)
- #23 – Bubba Wallace
- #41 – Cole Custer
- #3 – Austin Dillon
- #7 – Justin Haley
- #47 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- #60 – Ryan Preece
- #51 – Cody Ware
- #19 – Chase Briscoe
- #71 – Michael McDowell
- #42 – John Hunter Nemechek
- #33 – Austin Hill
- #77 – Carson Hocevar
- #6 – Brad Keselowski
- #35 – Riley Herbst (R)
- #48 – Alex Bowman
- #21 – Josh Berry
- #5 – Kyle Larson
- #44 – J.J. Yeley
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