Becoming the Second Multi-Time Winner, JGR’s Denny Hamlin celebrates the victory

JGR’s Denny Hamlin is now the season’s second multi-time winner, as the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after earning the rain-abbreviated Toyota 500 NASCAR Cup Series victory Wednesday night at Darlington Raceway.

This year’s Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin took the lead during a late-race caution, staying on track while most of the other front-runners pitted for fresh tires. Then, Hamlin held off the field on the ensuing restart with 29 laps remaining. He was out front when the final yellow flag came out for an incident directly behind him, involving reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch and the sport’s Most Popular Driver, Chase Elliott.

A steady rain fell to delay the start of the race. Then at the end of the race, NASCAR parked the cars on pit road with 20 laps left to run before calling the race minutes later as the rain intensified.

Kyle Busch finished second, followed by Sunday’s Darlington winner and current NASCAR Cup Series point leader Kevin Harvick. Brad Keselowski and Erik Jones round out the top-five, followed by Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Benedetto, and Martin Truex Jr.

Hamlin Brings his Happy Face to Darlington

“I’ve got my happy face on, made sure I brought it with me today,” Hamlin said from inside his car on pit road, referring to a face mask depicting a huge smile. “The pit crew did a great job today, everybody really. I was pretty happy with how it all turned out.

“It’s a driver’s race track,” said the three-time Darlington winner.” You can move around and you can do different things to make your car handle and we got it right today.”

As a precaution to the global COVID-19 pandemic, no fans were in the grandstands. For all those watching the race at home on FS1, it was an action-packed thriller. There was immediately a lot of talk on social media about the outcome and the closing laps.

While Hamlin was taking victory questions on live television, Kyle Busch was approached by Elliott’s crew chief Alan Gustafson to further talk about the incident with Elliott. Gustafson was Busch’s former crew chief when the two-time Cup champion drove for Hendrick Motorsports from 2005-07.

Kyle Busch explains the incident with Chase Elliott

“There’s no question. I know I made a mistake and just misjudged the gap,” Busch said of the incident with Elliott.

“We were racing there with the 11 (Hamlin) and the 9 (Elliott) had a run on him and I knew he was there and I knew I needed to get in line as quickly as I could and in doing so, I watched him and his momentum going by me and I tried to look up in the mirror and see where Harvick was (behind) and get in and I just misjudged it,” said Busch. “I made a mistake and clipped the nine there and spun him in the wall. I hate it for him and his guys.

“I’ve got too many friends over there on that team to do anything like that on purpose. I’ve raced Chase since he was a kid and never had any issues with him whatsoever. It was just a mistake on my part and we’ll just have to deal with it later on.”

Certainly, it seems the Joe Gibbs Racing quartet had their best runs in the closing laps. With 70 to go, all four cars were inside the top-ten with 2019 Darlington winner Erik Jones leading the way.

Polesitter Clint Bowyer’s Night has Ups and Downs

Earlier, however, Clint Bowyer looked to be the man to beat for much of the night. He became the first driver of the season to win both the first and second Stages of the same race. And Bowyer’s race-best 71 laps out front was a personal best at the 1.366-mile speedway. He’d only led 17 laps total in 15 previous career starts at Darlington prior to tonight.

With 34 laps remaining, Bowyer’s No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford hit the wall and spun to bring out a caution, sending the fan favorite to the pits for an extended stop. He finished a disappointing 22nd.

The race start was delayed by two hours as track workers took on the task of drying the track from an earlier downpour. Then, the green flag dropped for the action at 8 pm with the racing immediately on tempo. The Toyota 500 was fast and furious, ultimately featuring 17 lead changes among 13 drivers, and intense battles upfront all evening.

The starting lineup featured an inverted field for the top-20 positions – based on the finish of Sunday’s Darlington race. Harvick, who collected his 50th career NASCAR Cup Series win on Sunday, had to start 20th alongside his runner-up Alex Bowman. The disadvantage did not last long, however, as both Harvick and Bowman made their way forward despite each brushing the famously notorious Darlington walls.

Harvick Sets the Bar high for Competitors

After winning at Darlington on Sunday, Harvick’s third-place showing on Wednesday night – his sixth top-ten finish in as many races this season – was enough to keep him atop the NASCAR Cup Series driver standings by two points over Logano. Bowman is third in the championship – 37 points back from Harvick.

For the first time this season, Christopher Bell earned top rookie honors scoring an 11th-place finish in the No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Toyota. His previous best finish on the season was 21st in the season-opening Daytona 500.

The next NASCAR Cup Series race, the Coca-Cola 600 is slated for Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway (6 pm ET on FOX, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The NASCAR Xfinity Series Toyota 200 at Darlington Raceway takes place Thursday, May 21 at 12 pm ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Average Speed of Race Winner:  104.984 mph.

Time of Race:  Two Hrs, 42 Mins, 23 Secs. The Margin of Victory:  Under Caution Seconds.

Caution Flags:  11 for 54 laps.

Lead Changes:  17 among 13 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   R. Preece 0;T. Dillon 1-8;J. Logano 9-27;B. Wallace 28-30;C. Bowyer 31-83;M. Truex Jr. 84-99;K. Harvick 100-109;*. Suarez 110;C. Bowyer 111-128;R. Newman 129-133;E. Jones 134-160;C. Elliott 161-175;B. Keselowski 176-181;B. Poole # 182;C. Elliott 183-190;B. Keselowski 191;C. Elliott 192-196;D. Hamlin 197-208.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Clint Bowyer two times for 71 laps; Chase Elliott three times for 28 laps; Erik Jones one time for 27 laps; Joey Logano one time for 19 laps; Martin Truex Jr. one time for 16 laps; Denny Hamlin one time for 12 laps; Kevin Harvick one time for ten laps; Ty Dillon one time for eight laps; Brad Keselowski two times for seven laps; Ryan Newman one time for five laps; Bubba Wallace one time for three laps; Brennan Poole # one time for one lap; * Daniel Suarez one time for one lap.

Stage 1 Top-Ten: 14,19,12,88,22,10,9,11,42,37

Stage 2 Top-Ten: 14,9,19,20,4,24,11,88,22,21