Denny Hamlin doubles down at Darlington

In motorsport, being fast isn't enough; you also need a little help from fate! Denny Hamlin took advantage of the speed of his machine, that of his pit crew, and an exit from Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports) to win this Sunday evening. While he was in third position with four laps to go, Hamlin saw the leader Ryan Blaney (Team Penske) escape after an overtake on the Toyota Tyler Reddick (23XI Racing). Coming out of turn two, Kyle Larson spun, aided by Bubba Wallace (23XI Racing), and by hitting the inside wall, he triggered another caution. As fate can be mischievous, it was almost a carbon copy of his first accident at the same spot, four laps into the race. So the symmetry was perfect...

The race came down to the pits, and in this little game, Hamlin's No. 11 team came out on top, leaving their driver in the lead for the final restart. The Virginia native took advantage of the battle behind him for second place to take off and claim his second victory of the season, a week after Martinsville. Byron finished second, ahead of Christopher Bell (Joe Gibbs Racing), Tyler Reddick, and Ryan Blaney. “There are two people I really like right now: my pit crew and Kyle Larson.”, Hamlin said, smiling. "He gave me a hand, so I thank him! My crew of mechanics did an amazing job. They won last week [at Martinsville]. They did it this week. It's all about them."

Once again, the "Lady in Black", the nickname given to this historic track of the NASCAR was cruel, and probably even more so for William Byron (Hendrick Motorsports). The driver of the #24 Chevrolet led 243 of the 297 laps of the race, but he finished in second place. The 243 laps that Byron spent in the lead were consecutive, and were the first 243 laps of the race! This absolutely dominant position left him at the mercy of drivers who could make a gamble on their strategy. With 50 laps to go, the #24 Chevrolet entered the pits for the last time, under the green flag. It came out in fifth place, behind Blaney, Bell, Reddick and Hamlin, who had made the undercut by stopping a little earlier. Byron was never able to get back to the front of the race.

“First of all, I’m very proud that my team put in so much effort and preparation, that they had a car like that and executed it in that way. It looked like we were going to have a perfect race and that we were going to lead every lap.”, Byron said. “So I'm really proud of that. Those guys could be aggressive with their strategy and we lost control, and once we lost control, it was too late to come back. It sucks and I'm sure it's going to hurt tonight, but there's still a lot of positives. It hurts in the moment, for sure.”

The Daytona 500 winner can console himself with the fastest lap and maintaining the championship lead heading into the next round at Bristol.

Darlington – Standings

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