Denny Hamlin secured a thrilling victory in Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway, thanks to a flawless overtime restart and a crucial final pit stop by his Joe Gibbs Racing crew. Hamlin took the lead out of the pits during the last late-race caution and then outpaced the field on the subsequent restart, driving his No. 11 Toyota to a 0.597-second win over the day’s most dominant driver, William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports.
The victory marks Hamlin’s second consecutive win, following his triumph at Martinsville last week, and the first time he has won back-to-back races since 2012 when he won at Bristol and Atlanta in consecutive weeks. Climbing out of his car with a smile, Hamlin credited his pit crew for the win, stating, “There’s two people I really love right now: my pit crew and Kyle Larson. Had a little assist there, so thank you. The pit crew just did an amazing job. They won it last week [at Martinsville]. They won it this week. It’s all about them.”
For Byron, it was a bittersweet end to a career day. The Hendrick Motorsports driver led a race-best 243 of the 297 laps and claimed both Stage 1 and Stage 2 victories, marking the most laps he has ever led in a single race. Despite rallying to a runner-up finish on the final restart, Byron expressed his disappointment, saying, “First off, just really proud of my team to bring that level of effort and preparation and have a car like that and us execute like that, it was looking like we were going to have a perfect race and we were going to lead every lap. So, I was really proud of that. Those guys could just be aggressive on the other side of the green flag cycle and we just lost control, and once we lost control, it was too late to get back up there. It sucks and I’m sure it will sting tonight, but there are still a lot of positives. It just stings in the moment for sure.”
Christopher Bell, Hamlin’s JGR teammate, finished third after an impressive comeback from a 20th-place starting position, while Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing, co-owned by Hamlin and Michael Jordan, finished fourth. Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion, finished fifth, marking his first top-five result at Darlington. However, Blaney was left disappointed as he had just taken the lead moments before the final caution came out with only three laps of regulation remaining.
The win is Hamlin’s 56th career victory, moving him past NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace for 11th place on NASCAR’s all-time wins list. Byron’s runner-up finish keeps him atop the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings, now with a 49-point lead over Hamlin and a 52-point advantage over Bell.
The NASCAR Cup Series moves to Bristol Motor Speedway next weekend for the Food City 500, where Hamlin, the defending winner, will look to become the second JGR driver to win three consecutive races this season, following Bell’s earlier achievement.
