Pit Crew Helps Hamlin Steal Darlington Win In Overtime

Denny Hamlin celebrates with a burnout after winning Sunday at Darlington Raceway. (Scotte Sprinkle/Race Face Digital photo)

DARLINGTON, S.C. – Denny Hamlin was clutch when it counted in Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway, but it took a big assist from his pit crew for him to have the means to finish the job.

After a lightning-quick 9.42-second pit stop got Hamlin the lead ahead of overtime at the Track Too Tough to Tame, the future Hall of Famer did the rest, convincingly driving away from the field during the race-deciding two-lap dash.

Hamlin took the checkered flag in front of William Byron, the afternoon’s dominant driver, by .597 seconds for his 56th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, fifth at Darlington, and second in a row.

It was a stunner to most, but not to the Chesterfield, Va., native, who said repeatedly prior to his first win of the season a week prior at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway that he’s “still got plenty in the tank.”

“The pit crew just did an amazing job there,” noted Hamlin, who moved into sole possession of 11th on the all-time Cup Series win list with his victory Sunday. “They won it for us last week; they won it for us again this week. It’s all about them.

“There’s two people I really love right now – my pit crew and Kyle Larson (who brought out the race’s final yellow flag),” Hamlin added with a chuckle in front of a raucous crowd. “(We) had a little assist there, but got the job done when it mattered. I thought third place (was) kind of what we had, but this is just a quintessential race(track) where if you put yourself in the right place, things can fall your way.

“They didn’t (really) fall our way – our pit crew won it – but we’ll still take it all the same.”

Sunday’s 400-miler under the South Carolina sun featured eight cautions for just 45 laps, but the last of those eight changed the entire narrative of the ninth race of the season.

Denny Hamlin (11) chases William Byron on a restart Sunday at Darlington Raceway. (Jacob Seelman/Race Face Digital photo)

After Byron swept both stages and led the first 243 circuits from the pole without interruption, a late round of green-flag pit stops led to a shuffling of the strategy deck, with Tyler Reddick among the first of the leaders to get tires late and Byron and Ryan Blaney among the last to come for their service.

That meant there were comers and goers all around once the pit cycle fully wrapped up with 46 to go in regulation, with Blaney charging from 17 seconds back and deep in the top 10 and Reddick trying to hold on with older tires at the head of the pack.

As Reddick slipped and slid searching for grip, Blaney methodically found his groove right through the middle of Darlington’s two sets of corners.

Blaney chopped half a second or more per lap out of Reddick’s advantage in methodical fashion, and at the point he got past Hamlin for sixth place, there were 28 laps left and signs it might finally be Blaney’s day at Darlington.

Things came to a head with 16 to go, right after Blaney passed both Byron and Bell in the same lap to advance from fourth to second. He made mincemeat of his five-second deficit to Reddick after that, catching the 23XI Racing driver for the lead coming to five to go shortly after Reddick scraped the wall.

On lap 290, Blaney made his pass in turns one and two look easy, but no more had the Team Penske Ford taken control of the race than Kyle Larson’s Chevrolet broke loose off turn two – for the second time in the race – and nosed hard into the inside wall on the backstretch.

That forced the final caution flag to be called and a game-changing sequence of pit stops, where Hamlin’s pit crew launched him from third to the lead, while Blaney fell from first to fourth in the exchange.

Clean air became all the difference after that, as Hamlin – who only led 10 laps the entire race – pulled away from everyone behind him who had appeared far more capable for most of the day.

“First off, I’m really proud of my team for bringing that level of effort and preparation to the racetrack this weekend,” noted runner-up Byron. “To have a car like that and for us to execute like that … it was looking like it was going to be a perfect race. We were going to lead every lap.

Those guys (behind us) were able to be aggressive on the other side of the green flag (pit) cycle, and we lost control (of the race) there. Once we lost control, it was too late in the going to get back up there and contend again,” Byron added. “It sucks. There are still a lot of positives, but (losing) stings in the moment, for sure.”

After nearly getting put a lap down in the first 90-lap stage, Christopher Bell rallied to finish third and give Joe Gibbs Racing a second car inside the top three.

Reddick and Blaney crossed fourth and fifth, respectively, after battling for the top spot inside of five to go in the scheduled race distance. RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher was sixth behind Blaney.

Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs, and Kyle Busch closed out the top 10 finishers.

Despite carrying a throwback paint scheme reminiscent of recent NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Carl Edwards’ old Office Depot colors, however, Hamlin was quick to state he wasn’t about to attempt to replicate the traditional backflip that Edwards celebrated his race wins with in years gone by.

“I’ll pass,” Hamlin said resoundingly, “though If Carl (who was Sunday’s honorary starter) is still here, he’s more than welcome to jump off the car.”

With his Darlington win, Hamlin catapulted up four places in the regular season rankings. He took over second and sits just 49 points behind Byron for the series lead approaching the one-quarter mark of the season.

The NASCAR Cup Series heads next to Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, the high-banked concrete half mile where Hamlin won the spring race last year and has four wins overall in his Cup Series career.

Broadcast coverage of the Food City 500 is slated for Sunday, April 13 at 3 p.m. ET, live on FS1, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.