NASCAR
Denny Hamlin Tames Darlington Again in Overtime Dash
DARLINGTON, S.C. – Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway was a prime example of a race is never over until the checkers wave. Polesitter William Byron was unbeaten by anyone for nearly 250 laps, only to lose command in the final 50 circuits. While a natural battle for the win was building, overtime shook up this race and its frontrunners. Denny Hamlin’s pit crew delivered a monster pit stop to give the No. 11 the lead. Over the last two laps, Hamlin was not challenged up front for his fifth Darlington triumph.
From the pole, William Byron had the No. 24 in the wind early on. Byron took Stage 1 with ease, and went onto lead the opening 243 laps. Byron’s teammate Kyle Larson ran into early troubles, however, wrecking out by himself on lap four.
Stage 2 only saw one stoppage for a quick debris caution, after a wheel nut fell off of Brad Keselowski’s car. This led to a half-spin and impressive save for the No. 6 RFK Racing Ford.
Byron only relinquished the lead for the first time all afternoon with 50 laps left for a green flag pit stop. Christopher Bell pitted two laps earlier though, giving the 20 position over the 24. Tyler Reddick also short-pitted Byron by four laps, giving the No. 45 a huge lead over these two. A hard-charging Ryan Blaney easily erased his deficit to Reddick’s bumper as well. Blaney made what appeared to be a winning pass with four laps left. Just as Blaney got position though, a spinning Kyle Larson triggered overtime.
This caution brought everyone backdown pit road, where team 11 showed their mastery. Hamlin’s crew put together an elite pit stop, handing the 11 prime track position for the two-lap dash.
As a three-wide battle soon ensued for second, Denny Hamlin scooted away to a second-consecutive victory. This puts Hamlin at 56 career Cup Series wins, breaking a tie with Rusty Wallace for 11th all-time.
“There’s two people I really love right now, my pit crew,” Hamlin said. “Had a little assist there, so thank you. But man, the pit crew just did an amazing job. They won it last week, they won it this week, it’s all about them. Thanks SportClips, they have such a big deal here in Darlington, South Carolina. Shout out to Gordon and the whole team, we’ll see you in victory lane.”
Byron eclipsed his personal laps led milestone, and set a Darlington record for most laps paced from the start. The 24 ended the day as runner-up, however, just ahead of Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, and Ryan Blaney. The rest of the top-10 were: Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs, and Kyle Busch. Hear from a few of these drivers below.
The winning ways team 11 has shown over the last two weeks have a prime opportunity at continuing through next week. Denny Hamlin is the defending winner of the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. The World’s Fastest Half-Mile will see its green flag fly Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credits to Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
