Denny Hamlin came into Sunday night’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway winless on the 2021 season.
He left as a three-time winner of the legendary Southern 500.
Hamlin powered to the lead on the final restart of the night, and then held off Kyle Larson over the closing laps – including a banzai move by Larson on the final set of turns – to score the win and punch his ticket to the Round of 12 of the Playoffs.
“Southern 500, it’s a big win,” said Hamlin. “I love this race track. It’s by far my favorite race track. It’s just great.”
It’s the 45th career series win for the Chesterfield, Virginia native, and gives him his fourth career win at the tough 1.366 mile, egg shaped oval.
“We had a couple breaks here and there that got us the track position, but we were top-three all night,” said Hamlin. “Just drove as hard as I could that last run. The balance was just a little off, but we were able to hold off the 5 (Larson) just enough.”
Larson had dominated the night, leading 156 of 367 laps and consistently driving away from the competition.
Meanwhile, after winning the first segment of the race, Hamlin and his No. 11 Toyota team worked strategy over the course final segment, running among the top five and saving the tires while staying out longer than the competition before pitting. The aim was to make one less pit stop than anyone else.
The strategy paid off when a caution flew on lap 319 while Hamlin and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Martin Truex, Jr. were pacing the field after the other leaders had pitted. That left several drivers a lap down.
Truex, Jr. won the race off pit road, only to see it go away when he was hit with a pit road speeding penalty.
That put Hamlin in control over the final two restarts. While Larson had controlled much of the race, Hamlin was able to use his skills as a previous Darlington winner to find a faster line lap after lap.
With less than half a lap to go, Larson drove hard into turn 3 in an attempt to make a move. While he was able to close on Hamlin, he also got into the wall, killing his momentum.
That let Hamlin get away and sprint under the checkered flag first to score the win.
“I knew he (Larson) was going to drive in deep, but I didn’t think he was going to go that deep in the corner,” said Hamlin. “Obviously, I knew he wasn’t going to make it, but still he rattled me a little bit to where he got into the back of us and then we got him low. Fun finish to the Southern 500.”
Larson crossed the finish line in second.
“I didn’t want to wreck him, I just wanted to try to get to his outside there, but he did a great job not really making any mistakes during the last run, and I was having to push really hard in second to try and just stay with him,” Larson said.
The surprise of the night came from Ross Chastain, who came close to playing a spoiler on the night. Larson was in contention all night, and actually had the advantage over Larson at one point.
Over the closing laps, Chastain closed on Hamlin and Larson, and made a move with a handful of laps to bypass Larson. He was unable to complete the pass, and in the end had to settle for a third place finish, the highest finishing non-Playoff driver.
“I can go fast. I just can’t quite race with them, and it starts with my restarts,” said Chastain. “I’ve got some work to do there, so I gave up the outside to take the bottom to be safe and then Kyle (Larson) rolls around me. Was able to make one last charge there at him at the end, but yeah, I just need to clean up a few things.”
Playoff contender Truex, Jr. bounced back from a loose wheel and the pit road speeding penalty to come home with a fourth place result.
“We were so good on long runs,” Truex said. “Early in the race, we weren’t getting them so we were losing track position. Had the issue of the loose wheel under green and we were in pretty good position right there. Fought all the way back and got up to the front and the dumb driver sped on pit road. One of those days.”
Defending race winner Kevin Harvick came into the night last in the Playoff standings. After leading early, Harvick had to battle back from a loose wheel and an ill handling car to record a fifth place finish.
“Yeah, we worked hard,” Harvick said. “Our guys did a good job on pit road fixing the car, a flat tire at the end. I finished on a flat tire. I banged it into the wall a couple times getting a flat tire, but everybody just kept scraping and battling and doing everything that they needed to do to finish the race and we had a decently fast Busch Light Ford Mustang and were able to drive back through there and keep ourselves up front.”
Playoff contenders Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano finished sixth through eight, while non-Playoff drivers Chris Buescher, and Austin Dillon rounded out the top 10.
Sunday night’s race was the opening of the Round of 16 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, and “The Lady In Black” proved to be a mean one for several of the Playoff contenders.
While Aric Almirola finished in 16th, while Tyler Reddick came home in 18th with relatively unscathed cars, others weren’t so lucky.
Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman and William Byron both had problems in the same incident on lap 16. It began when a cut tire sent Bowman into the wall, with Byron getting into his teammate in an effort to avoid him. While Bowman’s car suffered significant damage, he would continue on to finish four laps down in 26th.
Byron suffered some cosmetic damage, but his team made repairs and he worked his way back into the top five. But that run went south when a cut tire sent him hard into the turn 1 wall on lap 200, ending his night with a 34th place result.
It was also a bad result for their fellow Hendrick Motorsports driver, Chase Elliott. The Dawsonville, Georgia racer had run in the lower part of the top 10 most of the day, but contact with Christopher Bell and Bubba Wallace on a lap 326 restart left Elliott with a flat tire, sending him into the turn 1 wall. The damage was severe enough to sideline the Dawsonville, Georgia driver. He was credited with a 31st place finish.
Michael McDowell saw an early strong run go away when he spun off turn 2 on lap 31, making hard contact head on with the inside wall. He was uninjured, but his car was destroyed, leaving 37th, last on the field.
Kyle Busch saw his night go away when contact between his No. 18 Toyota and the No. 3 Chevy of Austin Dillon sent Busch’s car hard into the outside wall. His night was over with a 35th place finish.
Christopher Bell was running with the leaders when he had to come to pit road on lap 253 with a vibration. He ended up finishing one lap down in 20th.
Ryan Blaney led early after starting on the pole, but began experiencing brake issues during the race. It finally boiled over when he spun on lap 319 when he suffered bake failure going into turn one. After quick repairs by his crew, Blaney soldiered home to a 22nd place finish, one lap down.
NASCAR Cup Series
Darlington Raceway – Darlington, SC
Cook Out Southern 500 – September 5, 2021
1. (2) Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 367.
2. (6) Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 367.
3. (23) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 367.
4. (10) Martin Truex, Jr. (P), Toyota, 367.
5. (9) Kevin Harvick (P), Ford, 367.
6. (3) Kurt Busch (P), Chevrolet, 367.
7. (16) Brad Keselowski (P), Ford, 367.
8. (11) Joey Logano (P), Ford, 367.
9. (34) Chris Buescher, Ford, 367.
10. (21) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 367.
11. (31) Cole Custer, Ford, 367.
12. (18) Ryan Preece, Chevrolet, 367.
13. (26) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 367.
14. (19) Ryan Newman, Ford, 367.
15. (25) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 367.
16. (8) Aric Almirola (P), Ford, 366.
17. (29) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Chevrolet, 366.
18. (7) Tyler Reddick (P), Chevrolet, 366.
19. (24) Chase Briscoe #, Ford, 366.
20. (13) Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 366.
21. (17) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 366.
22. (1) Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 366.
23. (30) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 365.
24. (32) Anthony Alfredo #, Ford, 364.
25. (20) Justin Haley(i), Chevrolet, 364.
26. (5) Alex Bowman (P), Chevrolet, 363.
27. (27) B.J. McLeod(i), Ford, 359.
28. (28) Josh Bilicki, Ford, 359.
29. (35) Joey Gase(i), Chevrolet, 357.
30. (37) Quin Houff, Chevrolet, 355.
31. (4) Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, Accident, 327.
32. (22) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, Engine, 264.
33. (33) Cody Ware(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 209.
34. (14) William Byron (P), Chevrolet, Accident, 199.
35. (12) Kyle Busch (P), Toyota, Accident, 125.
36. (36) James Davison, Chevrolet, Accident, 50.
37. (15) Michael McDowell (P), Ford, Accident, 30.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 121.279 mph.
Time of Race: 4 Hrs, 8 Mins, 1 Secs. Margin of Victory: .212 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 11 for 52 laps.
Lead Changes: 18 among 10 drivers.
Lap Leaders: R. Blaney (P) 1-14;K. Busch (P) 15-27;E. Jones 28-29;K. Harvick (P) 30-49;J. Gase(i) 50;D. Hamlin (P) 51-80;R. Blaney (P) 81-83;D. Hamlin (P) 84-121;K. Larson (P) 122-158;C. Bell (P) 159-165;K. Larson (P) 166-196;C. Bell (P) 197-199;K. Larson (P) 200-232;R. Chastain 233;K. Larson (P) 234-269;D. Hamlin (P) 270-278;M. Truex Jr. (P) 279;K. Larson (P) 280-298;D. Hamlin (P) 299-367.
Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) Kyle Larson (P) 5 times for 156 laps; Denny Hamlin (P) 4 times for 146 laps; Kevin Harvick (P) 1 time for 20 laps; Ryan Blaney (P) 2 times for 17 laps; Kurt Busch (P) 1 time for 13 laps; Christopher Bell (P) 2 times for 10 laps; Erik Jones 1 time for 2 laps; Ross Chastain 1 time for 1 lap; Joey Gase(i) 1 time for 1 lap; Martin Truex Jr. (P) 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 11,5,1,12,4,19,8,10,42,22
Stage #2 Top Ten: 5,20,42,11,4,1,22,9,12,7
Playoff Standings: 1. Kyle Larson – 2106 (5 Wins); 2. Denny Hamlin – 2072 (1 Win)*; 3. Martin Truex, Jr. – 2062 (3 Wins); 4. Kurt Busch – 2052 (1 Win); 5. Ryan Blaney – 2048 (3 Wins); 6. Joey Logano – 2047 (1 Win); 7. Kevin Harvick – 2046; 8. Brad Keselowski – 2038 (1 Win); 9. Christopher Bell – 2031 (1 Win); 10. Chase Elliott – 2030 (2 Wins); 11. Aric Almirola – 2029 (1 Win); 12. Tyler Reddick – 2026; 13. Alex Bowman – 2026 (3 Wins); 14. Kyle Busch – 2024 (2 Wins); 15. William Byron – 2017 (1 Win); 16. Michael McDowell – 2006 (1 Win).
*Locked into the Round of 12
