Hamlin Pulls off Huge Comeback to Sweep Darlington Weekend

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

DARLINGTON, S.C. – Denny Hamlin made a huge mistake on Sunday night.

Then the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota made an even bigger comeback to win one of NASCAR’s most prestigious races.

Running down race leader Martin Truex Jr. from 20 seconds back after missing the entrance to pit road on Lap 313 of 367, Hamlin won the Bojangles’ Southern 500 for the second time, finishing off a sweep of the throwback Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series/NASCAR XFINITY Series weekend at Darlington Raceway.

On tires that were 10 laps fresher than Truex’s, Hamlin exited pit road in 14th-place on Lap 315 after missing the entrance the first time and methodically began to chop into Truex’s lead. With just over two laps left, Hamlin was closing fast, as Truex was fighting to maintain control of his car on worn-out rubber.

Truex grazed the wall on Lap 365, then cut a tire and bounced off the wall again as Hamlin rushed past. Two laps later Hamlin had his second victory of the season and the 31st of his career.

Hamlin beat JGR teammate Kyle Busch to the finish line by 2.599 seconds as Truex faded to eighth after clinching the regular-season championship by winning the first two stages of the race.

“That’s as hard as I can drive,” said Hamlin, whose Camry sported a paint scheme paying tribute to renowned modified driver Ray Hendrick. “What can I say–it’s the flying 11. It means everything to me. I mean, as far as I’m concerned, this is a throwback to my history – this is for Ray Hendrick, Bugs Hairfield, Wayne Patterson, Eddie Johnson, the short track guys that I grew up watching.

“This was a throwback to them. Back in 1985 and 1989, I was at Southside Speedway in the stands watching them race and learning everything I could from them, and this is a throwback to them and their history.”

Hamlin last won the Bojangles’ Southern 500 in 2010, when he also achieved a two-race sweep. In the last seven runnings of the event, Hamlin has finished in the top six on six occasions.

But, under the circumstances, Sunday night’s win was one to savor.

“This one’s sweeter,” he acknowledged, “going through the adversity we did.”

Hamlin was pushing hard to get to pit road on Lap 313 when he came in too hot and had to steer his car back onto the track to avoid a commitment violation or contact with the barrels at the head of pit road. Hamlin termed it “kind of a rookie move,” but over the closing laps he more than atoned for the mistake.

Truex didn’t have the dominant car in the first two stages, but he won both, despite leading just 34 of the first 200 laps. And when Truex took the green/checkered flag under caution at the end of the second 100-lap stage, he clinched the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series regular-season championship.

With a 15-playoff-point bonus for that accomplishment, Truex increased his playoff point total to a series-best 52, giving the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota a huge leg up toward advancing through the early rounds of the playoff.

But Truex, the defending winner of the event, was disappointed he couldn’t hold on to the top spot for two more laps.

“It was definitely a bittersweet night for us, to come up just two laps short there, blow a tire at the end after having no issues with tires all night and having such a good race car,” Truex said. “I don’t know if that last run was the longest one we made all night. I’m not really sure to be honest. I was kind of out there caught up driving my guts out at the end trying to hang on.

“It’s unfortunate we blew the tire, but really proud of everybody on this team for an amazing season so far, and to lock up the regular-season points is a huge accomplishment for us, for our team. I feel like we’ve come a long way in just a few years together and continue to climb.”

Clint Bowyer suffered an engine failure and fell out of the race after 18 laps, leaving the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing team with but one path into the playoffs—a victory next Saturday night at Richmond.

“It just blew up,” Bowyer lamented after taking his Ford to the garage. “It’s a pretty inopportune time to have it happen, but it’s never a good time. Doug Yates and all the guys over at his (Roush-Yates Engines) shop do such a good job of bringing us reliable, good horsepower, and it was just my time.

“It was my turn, and there isn’t much you can do about it. Obviously, the way the playoffs look right now, we’re not out of this thing. We’ve still got a good race track coming up for us. We’ll just go there and do the best we can and put all the cards on the table over there.”

Notes: Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a flat tire with 30 laps left and finished 22nd in his last Southern 500 in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet… Eight cars finished on the lead lap, the fewest in the event since the 1998 race produced an equal number… The race ended on a 102-lap green-flag run, the first time the race has ended on a run of 100 laps or more since the 2006 edition closed with 115 green-flag laps… Chase Elliott, Matt Kenseth and Jamie McMurray leave Darlington seventh, eighth and ninth in the standings, respectively. Though winless this season, all three drivers will qualify for the playoff if there’s not another unique winner below them in the standings. If there is such a unique winner, only two of the three will make the playoff. Elliott has 737 points, Kenseth 735 and McMurray 734.

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race – Bojangles’ Southern 500

1. (9) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 367.

2. (3) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 367.

3. (7) Kurt Busch, Ford, 367.

4. (13) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 367.

5. (10) Erik Jones #, Toyota, 367.

6. (11) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 367.

7. (17) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 367.

8. (2) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 367.

9. (1) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 366.

10. (5) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 366.

11. (20) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 366.

12. (18) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 366.

13. (25) Ty Dillon #, Chevrolet, 366.

14. (4) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 366.

15. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 366.

16. (21) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 366.

17. (27) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet, 366.

18. (8) Joey Logano, Ford, 366.

19. (30) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 365.

20. (15) Aric Almirola, Ford, 365.

21. (31) Landon Cassill, Ford, 365.

22. (22) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 365.

23. (34) Cole Whitt, Chevrolet, 364.

24. (23) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 364.

25. (26) David Ragan, Ford, 363.

26. (33) Danica Patrick, Ford, 363.

27. (28) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, 362.

28. (35) Corey LaJoie #, Toyota, 360.

29. (14) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 358.

30. (37) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 356.

31. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 356.

32. (38) * Derrike Cope, Toyota, 351.

33. (40) * Carl Long(i), Chevrolet, 350.

34. (29) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 340.

35. (24) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 336.

36. (36) * Gray Gaulding #, Toyota, Accident, 202.

37. (39) * Cody Ware, Chevrolet, Accident, 144.

38. (19) Daniel Suarez #, Toyota, Accident, 125.

39. (32) Reed Sorenson, Toyota, Clutch, 104.

40. (16) Clint Bowyer, Ford, Engine, 18.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 132.761 mph.

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 46 Mins, 34 Secs.

Margin of Victory: 2.599 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 8 for 38 laps.

Lead Changes: 20 among 8 drivers.

Lap Leaders: K. Harvick 1-18; Kyle Busch 19-21; K. Larson 22-99; M. Truex Jr. 100-102; K. Larson 103-147; M. Truex Jr. 148-156; K. Larson 157; D. Hamlin 158-178; M. Truex Jr. 179-200; K. Harvick 201; D. Hamlin 202-250; B. Keselowski 251-253; L. Cassill 254-258; M. Truex Jr. 259-261; Kyle Busch 262; D. Hamlin 263-313; Kyle Busch 314-315; K. Harvick 316-318; Kurt Busch 319-325; M. Truex Jr. 326-364; D. Hamlin 365-367.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): D. Hamlin 4 times for 124 laps; K. Larson 3 times for 124 laps; M. Truex Jr. 5 times for 76 laps; K. Harvick 3 times for 22 laps; Kurt Busch 1 time for 7 laps; Kyle Busch 3 times for 6 laps; L. Cassill 1 time for 5 laps; B. Keselowski 1 time for 3 laps.

Stage No. 1 Top Ten: 78,42,11,4,2,77,1,22,18,3

Stage No. 2 Top Ten: 78,11,4,42,18,2,41,1,3,20