Denny Hamlin stole an Easter victory at Richmond on Sunday night time.
Hamlin was third when a warning got here out with lower than two laps to go for a half-spin by Kyle Larson off Bubba Wallace’s bumper. A nine-second pit cease throughout the ensuing warning flag bought Hamlin out of the pits first and he held on over the ultimate two laps of the prolonged race for his second win of the season.
“This can be a crew win for certain,” Hamlin stated after climbing from his automobile. “This trophy must go to every of the pit crew members”
Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. appeared properly on his technique to a win when the warning got here out for Larson’s slide. However he exited the pits in second place and didn’t have something for Hamlin in extra time. Truex ended up ending fourth behind Joey Logano in second and Larson in third.
“He jumped the beginning and simply used me up in Flip 1,” Truex stated of Hamlin.
It is exhausting to argue in opposition to Truex’s level. Take a look at Hamlin accelerating away from Truex and everybody else earlier than the restart zone on the finish of this clip.
In the end, it was an excellent transfer by Hamlin. By going early, he caught Truex off-guard and compelled NASCAR to make a judgment name when it has proven it may be lenient in relation to restart gamesmanship. NASCAR didn’t evaluate the restart or penalize Hamlin.
And sure, Larson completed third after spinning to trigger the ultimate warning. He was within the high 5 when he spun and solely fell to sixth on the spin. He had the No. 1 pit stall after qualifying first for the race, and exited pit street in fourth earlier than the ultimate restart.
“I’ll take a 3rd after what may have been rather a lot worse on the frontstretch,” Larson stated.
Truex was visibly offended on the finish of the race based mostly on the best way he drove his automobile. He led a race-high 228 of 407 laps and door-slammed Larson after they bounced off one another on the end line. He then drove into Hamlin’s bumper on the cool-down lap earlier than he went to pit lane.
It’s comprehensible why Truex was upset. He had the race’s finest automobile and had the race in hand earlier than the warning. Logano had lower Truex’s result in lower than a second with 10 laps to go, however wasn’t in hanging place because the laps wound down.
The win would have been the thirty fifth of Truex’s profession. As an alternative, Hamlin bought to rejoice his 53rd win and his fifth at his residence observe.
An uneventful race
The race started as the primary NASCAR Cup Collection factors race to start with rain tires on an oval. It rained at Richmond for many of the day and NASCAR had groups strap on rain tires for the beginning of the race with a observe that wasn’t absolutely dry.
The racing didn’t look an excessive amount of totally different with rain tires on a moist observe than it did on a dry observe with slick tires. The one main distinction got here on pit street. A contest warning was referred to as on lap 30, however NASCAR declared that pit stops wouldn’t be dwell. The operating order coming into the pits was the operating order leaving the pits.
With dwell pit stops resuming after the lap 70 conclusion of the primary stage, the race was fairly uneventful. The primary actual warning of the day got here on lap 63 when Josh Berry bumped Daniel Suarez right into a slide. After that, the one non-stage warning of the race earlier than Larson’s slide got here on lap 169 when Kyle Busch bumped the wall in an incident that didn’t advantage a yellow flag.
Busch’s wall contact ruined a possible technique battle within the second stage as some groups opted for a one-stop technique within the stage and others tried to chop the stage into thirds. The warning put everybody on the identical technique and negated any tire variations.
Race outcomes
1. Denny Hamlin
2. Joey Logano
3. Kyle Larson
4. Martin Truex Jr.
5. Chase Elliott
6. Christopher Bell
7. William Byron
8. Brad Keselowski
9. Chris Buescher
10. Tyler Reddick
11. Josh Berry
12. Noah Gragson
13. Bubba Wallace
14. Erik Jones
15. Ross Chastain
16. Ty Gibbs
17. Alex Bowman
18. Chase Briscoe
19. Ryan Blakey
20. Kyle Busch
21. Todd Gilliland
22. Daniel Suarez
23. Austin Cindric
24. Austin Dillon
25. John Hunter Nemechek
26. Michael McDowell
27. Carson Hocevar
28. Ryan Preece
29. Ty Dillon
30. Daniel Hemric
31. Kaz Grala
32. Justin Haley
33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
34. Harrison Burton
35. Zane Smith
36. Corey LaJoie
