Hamlin Wins Mid-Week Race at Darlington

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Denny Hamlin won the rain-shortened Toyota 500 from Darlington Raceway on Wednesday night.

Rain dominated the headlines throughout the week, as it postponed Tuesday’s Xfinity Series race and delayed the green flag for Wednesday’s Cup Series race by over an hour.

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Once the race went green, drivers were on edge with rain threatening throughout most of the night.  With Hamlin in the lead during a late caution, the rain finally arrived and ended the race 20 laps short of the scheduled distance.

Hamlin stayed out with old tires late in the race, and he was able to hold off Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott on the final restart.  When Busch and Elliott got together to bring out the final caution, the rain finally arrived and the race was cut short.

Hamlin said his team was able to unload with a fast car for both Darlington races this week.

“The pit crew did a great job today,” Hamlin said.  “I was pretty happy with how it all turned out.”

Hamlin said the track plays to his strengths as a driver, which helped him get to victory lane.

“It’s a driver’s racetrack,” Hamlin said.  “You can move around, you can do different things to make your car handle and we just got it right today.”

Busch and Elliott were racing for second place when the two made contact, sending Elliott spinning into the inside wall.  Elliott, NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver, got out of his car and gave Busch the finger before getting into the ambulance.

Busch spoke to Elliott’s crew chief following the race, and said he just made a mistake while trying to conserve his track position.

“There’s no question, I made a mistake and just misjudged the gap,” Busch said.  “I made a mistake and clipped the 9 [of Elliott] there and spun him into the wall.”

Busch said he will reach out to Elliott in the coming days to speak about the incident, but that he is aware Elliott’s team will be upset.

“They’re upset, they’re mad,” Busch said.  “I’m not just going to fix it and we’re going to go have ice cream tomorrow.  Obviously they’re going to have to dwell on it…the repercussions of it, I’ll have to deal with on down the road.”

Unofficial results:

1. Denny Hamlin

2. Kyle Busch

3. Kevin Harvick

4. Brad Keselowski

5. Erik Jones

6. Joey Logano

7. Aric Almirola

8. Jimmie Johnson

9. Matt DiBenedetto

10. Martin Truex Jr.

11. Christopher Bell

12. William Byron

13. Tyler Reddick

14. Ryan Newman

15. Kurt Busch

16. Bubba Wallace

17. Michael McDowell

18. Alex Bowman

19. Ty Dillon

20. Austin Dillon

21. Ryan Blaney

22. Clint Bowyer

23. Chris Buescher

24. Corey LaJoie

25. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

26. Quin Houff

27. Daniel Suarez

28. JJ Yeley

29. Joey Gase

30. Matt Kenseth

31. Cole Custer

32. Gray Gaulding

33. Timmy Hill

34. Garrett Smithley

35. John Hunter Nemechek

36. BJ McLeod

37. Brennan Poole

38. Chase Elliott

39. Ryan Preece

Chris Graythen/Getty Images