Denny Hamlin won the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway Sunday afternoon, claiming his 56th Cup Series career victory. He only led 10 laps, but they were the ones that mattered most.
The race’s final caution came after a spin by Kyle Larson, and Hamlin seized the opportunity to pit for fresh tires. His crew excelled when it mattered most, and Hamlin took the lead for the overtime restart. He scored his second consecutive victory, following his win last week at Martinsville.
“There’s two people I really love right now,” Hamlin said, “my pit crew and Kyle Larson, had a little assist there, so thank you.”
He acknowledged his team’s performance, saying, “The pit crew just did an amazing job. They won it last week (at Martinsville), they won it this week, it’s all about them.”
It was a disappointing day at Darlington for Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron, who was dominant throughout the race. After leading 243 laps and winning the race’s first two stages, he had to settle for a disappointing second-place finish. However, he currently leads the driver standings by 49 points over Hamlin.
“First off, just really proud of my team to bring that level of effort and preparation and have a car like that and us execute like that, it was looking like we were going to have a perfect race, and we were going to lead every lap,” Byron said.
“So, I was really proud of that. Those guys could just be aggressive on the other side of the green flag cycle, and we just lost control, and once we lost control, it was too late to get back up there.
“It sucks and I’m sure it will sting tonight, but there are still a lot of positives. It just stings in the moment for sure. But at the same time, I’m really proud of that effort by the whole team. It shows what we’re really made of, and hopefully, there’s a lot more of that to come.”
Hamlin’s teammate, Christopher Bell, finished third, followed by 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick in fourth as Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney rounded out the top five. Ross Chastain, Ryan Preece, Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe, and Todd Gilliland completed the top 10.
Darlington Goodyear 400 Results:
| POS | ST | NO | DRIVER | LAPS | S1 | S2 | S3 | PTS | STATUS |
| 1 | 3 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | 297 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 48 | Running |
| 2 | 1 | 24 | William Byron | 297 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 56 | Running |
| 3 | 17 | 20 | Christopher Bell | 297 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 39 | Running |
| 4 | 7 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | 297 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 41 | Running |
| 5 | 9 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | 297 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 43 | Running |
| 6 | 14 | 17 | Chris Buescher | 297 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 38 | Running |
| 7 | 25 | 1 | Ross Chastain | 297 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | Running |
| 8 | 15 | 9 | Chase Elliott | 297 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | Running |
| 9 | 11 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | 297 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 32 | Running |
| 10 | 8 | 8 | Kyle Busch | 297 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | Running |
| 11 | 6 | 2 | Austin Cindric | 297 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 29 | Running |
| 12 | 16 | 38 | Zane Smith | 297 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 27 | Running |
| 13 | 18 | 22 | Joey Logano | 297 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 33 | Running |
| 14 | 12 | 34 | Todd Gilliland | 297 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | Running |
| 15 | 30 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | 297 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | Running |
| 16 | 29 | 10 | Ty Dillon | 297 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 24 | Running |
| 17 | 34 | 43 | Erik Jones | 297 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | Running |
| 18 | 22 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | 297 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 20 | Running |
| 19 | 26 | 4 | Noah Gragson | 297 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | Running |
| 20 | 36 | 88 | Shane Van Gisbergen # | 297 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | Running |
| 21 | 5 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 297 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 25 | Running |
| 22 | 31 | 41 | Cole Custer | 297 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | Running |
| 23 | 23 | 3 | Austin Dillon | 297 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | Running |
| 24 | 21 | 7 | Justin Haley | 297 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | Running |
| 25 | 28 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 297 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | Running |
| 26 | 2 | 60 | Ryan Preece | 297 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 19 | Running |
| 27 | 35 | 51 | Cody Ware | 297 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | Running |
| 28 | 4 | 19 | Chase Briscoe | 297 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | Running |
| 29 | 10 | 71 | Michael McDowell | 297 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | Running |
| 30 | 27 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | 297 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | Running |
| 31 | 37 | 33 | * Austin Hill(i) | 296 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Running |
| 32 | 13 | 77 | Carson Hocevar | 296 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | Running |
| 33 | 20 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | 295 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 9 | Running |
| 34 | 32 | 35 | Riley Herbst # | 295 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | Running |
| 35 | 33 | 48 | Alex Bowman | 280 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 3 | Running |
| 36 | 24 | 21 | Josh Berry | 194 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 7 | Accident |
| 37 | 19 | 5 | Kyle Larson | 122 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Suspension |
| 38 | 38 | 44 | * JJ Yeley | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Brakes |
Next week, the NASCAR Cup Series travels to Bristol Motor Speedway for the Food City 500 at 3 p.m. on FS1, with radio coverage provided by PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
