RICHMOND, Virginia — Virginia native Denny Hamlin ran away in a green-white-checker shootout to clinch the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway.
“This is a team win for sure,” Hamlin said after climbing from his car. “This trophy needs to go to each of the pit crew members”
American Hamlin said that he didn’t jump the start “I went, right at it, for sure,” Hamlin stated from the media center.
“I did that because I saw those guys rolling to me. The No. 22 was laying back and the No. 19 was rolling a couple miles per hour quicker than I was.”
“So, I wasn’t going to let them have an advantage that my team earned on pit road. Once my nose got there, I took off, right away,” he added.
“Still we were side by side and down in the water into turn one.”
Hamlin won the race off pit road with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. after a caution with two laps to go, and then won in overtime at Richmond Raceway.
After Bubba Wallace brought out a caution by spinning Kyle Larson with two laps to go and Truex seemingly headed to victory, the 16 lead-lap cars pitted with Hamlin emerging as the leader, followed by Joey Logano and Larson.
The Chesterfield, Va., native managed to pull away from Logano and Larson to win by 0.269 seconds.
It was Hamlin’s 53rd win and fifth at Richmond. Truex and Chase Elliott completed the top five.
In his 300th career Cup start, Chris Buescher brought his No. 17 Ford home ninth.
Hendrick Motorsports drivers Larson and Elliott occupied the front row, but the 400-lap event was hindered and delayed briefly by rain.
After track-drying efforts made the three-quarter-mile track raceable but still damp, NASCAR threw a curveball at the field and opted to run wet weather tires, which were used last season at the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway.
Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. looked well on his way to a win when the caution came out for Larson’s slide.
But he exited the pits in second place and didn’t have anything for Hamlin in overtime. Truex ended up finishing fourth behind Joey Logano in second and Larson in third.
“He jumped the start and just used me up in Turn 1,” Truex said of Hamlin.
Larson finished third after spinning to cause the final caution. He was in the top five when he spun and only fell to sixth on the spin. He had the No. 1 pit stall after qualifying first for the race, and exited pit road in fourth before the final restart.
“I will take a third after what could have been a lot worse on the front stretch,” Larson said.
After Josh Berry spun Daniel Suarez, the field ran the remaining laps under the third caution to finish Stage 1 at Lap 70. Larson finished first to get the maximum bonus points.
However, the 36-car field’s biggest mover was Berry in the No. 4 Ford formerly driven by Kevin Harvick.
The 33-year-old Berry, a short-track veteran for years driving for JR Motorsports and part-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., started 30th and moved all the way to third by Lap 102.
After short-pitting, Truex’s No. 19 Toyota inherited the point and had it for good as a caution flew on Lap 170 after Kyle Busch banged the wall.
Truex raced on to claim the second segment by 0.723 seconds over Berry and Logano. It was his first stage win this season and sixth career at Richmond.
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