Denny Hamlin, crew steal Easter win at Richmond
RICHMOND, Va. — While teammate Martin Truex Jr. dominated Sunday night, Denny Hamlin won the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway in overtime.
Hamlin ran third to Truex and Joey Logano when a caution fell with two laps to go. When he pitted, his crew leaped him over Truex and Logano for overtime.
On the restart, Hamlin pulled off a controversial restart and shook off Truex, cruising to his second win of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Hamlin’s second win of 2024 is his fifth at Richmond and 53rd in the Cup Series. He is one win away from tying Lee Petty (54 wins) and two from Rusty Wallace (55).
Hamlin now has as many wins at Richmond as Dale Earnhardt and is one away from tying Kyle Busch, who leads all active drivers with six wins at the track.
TOP-10 FINISHERS (LAP 407): Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, William Byron, Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher, Tyler Reddick
Logano earned only his third top-20 finish of 2024 in Sunday’s race.
Larson had a hectic last few laps. He spun with two laps to go, bringing out the caution that sent the race into overtime.
Truex Jr. took his frustration out on Larson, running into his car multiple times before Larson ran into him after finishing ahead of him. Truex also ran into Hamlin, accusing him of jumping the restart.
Elliott earned his first top-5 finish of the season. Bell recovered from a speeding penalty to finish sixth.
TOYOTA OWNERS 400 RECAP
Elliott led the first competitive lap ever run with wet weather tires on an oval in a NASCAR Cup Series points race. The first 30 laps ran with those tires until NASCAR ordered a caution for everyone to put on the slick tires.
Larson took the lead on lap six and only lost the lead for one lap in the stage to Bubba Wallace as they raced wheel-to-wheel after the competition caution.
Daniel Suarez ran ninth with five laps to go in the stage. Going into turn one, he appeared to block Josh Berry going into turn one. Berry didn’t lift and spun Suarez, ending the stage under caution.
STAGE ONE TOP-10 FINISHERS (LAP 70): Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace, Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Todd Gilliland, Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, Josh Berry, Ryan Preece
During stage two, Larson commanded the field with Truex in tow until lap 150. He was on a one-stop strategy for tires while Truex was on a two-stop strategy.
21 laps later, Kyle Busch brushed the wall in turn two. That brought out a caution that foiled the strategy Larson and others were going for.
STAGE TWO TOP-10 (LAP 230): Truex, Berry, Logano, Larson, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Buescher, Wallace, William Byron, Tyler Reddick
In stage three, Larson and Logano were within a second of Truex but seemingly couldn’t pass him.
Bell, who started 29th and crept his way to third, stayed out for eight laps after everyone else pitted, hoping to pass Truex, Larson and Logano.
It was all going to plan until Bell had to do a drive through pit road for speeding on pit road.
Meanwhile, on track, Larson retook the presumptive lead from Truex before Truex quickly took it back.
With two laps to go, Truex was a few tenths ahead of Logano when Bubba Wallace slid off of turn four and spun Kyle Larson.
In overtime, Denny Hamlin nabbed the victory from Truex.
THROUGH THE FIELD
Berry finished 11th, just ahead of teammate Noah Gragson. Wallace finished 13th. Gibbs and Bowman finished 16th and 17th after having issues with top-10 capable cars.
Kyle Busch, Todd Gilliland and Daniel Suarez finished 20th, 21st and 22nd after making noise earlier in the race. Meanwhile, Preece finished 28th. No cars finished out of the race or more than three laps behind the leader.
Discover more from The Racing Experts
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com