At Richmond Raceway on Sunday night, Denny Hamlin secured his second victory of the year by defeating Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, and Martin Truex Jr.
With roughly two circuits remaining, an incident between Larson and Bubba Wallace sent the race into overtime. With two circuits remaining, Larson pulled loose and checked up the track, which allowed Wallace to go into the rear of him and spin him.
After the leaders pitted, Hamlin emerged first, followed by Logano. Wallace dropped to 16th place on the restart, but Larson was able to make a strong pit stop and move back ahead of him.
After restarting the race, Hamlin managed to get a strong jump and hold off Truex. The No. 19 driver held the lead for most of the race before losing control of it and bumping Larson many times after it was done.
When he spoke with Fox Sports, Truex was irritated because he thought Hamlin had gotten a head start on crossing the line in the restart zone. The presenter declared that NASCAR was not looking into the last few laps.
For Hamlin, it was a victory in his hometown and his 53rd overall. Two races ago, he won the Food City 500, and it looks like he’s in the lead heading into the NASCAR playoffs.
Logano needed a strong finish because the season started badly for him. In three of the first seven races, he finished outside the top 25. He finished 11th at the Circuit of the Americas and 22nd in Bristol. His confidence should be high going into Martinsville the following week after he finished in second position.
Following the checkered flag, a seemingly irate Truex crashed into Larson as he was entering Turn 1, then on the cool-down lap, he bumped Hamlin’s car three times from behind.
This is Hamlin’s 53rd career victory, and his fifth at his home track in Richmond.
“I’ve had the best pit crew all year long. I loved our chances,” Regarding entering overtime, Hamlin remarked, “We still had Martin (Truex Jr.) – he was the deserving race winner there, but you give these pit crews an opportunity – this is what it is all about. You have to have your whole team put together – and they just killed it today.”
“We were close all day long. We kept the leader right there close to us, but just couldn’t quite get there. It was so excruciatingly hard to pass. It made it really difficult – even with newer tires. I needed that kind of situation in the end to be able to win it.”
“We have high aspirations this year and how many wins we can get, and this is putting us right on track.”
The remaining nine players in the top 10 were Tyler Reddick, Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, and William Byron.