Hamlin Overcomes Pit Road Struggles to Win at Texas

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Denny Hamlin won the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 from Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday afternoon.

Hamlin did not have an easy day on his way to victory lane.  After getting hit with two pit road penalties throughout the race, Hamlin and his team used pit strategy to get back to the front.

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Hamlin said overcoming both penalties showed how strong his car was on Sunday.

“Just a really fast car,” Hamlin said.  “They gave me a fast car; a car fast enough to really pass anyone in the field, so that means a lot.”

The race at Texas was different than those in the past, as this race featured NASCAR’s new aero package.  The package gave drivers more opportunities to draft as they would at a bigger tracks like Daytona or Talladega.

Hamlin said the new rules package changed the way drivers raced throughout the day.

“Definitely a different kind of race trying to draft…trying to get out of everyone’s way,” Hamlin said.  “Proud of this whole FedEx Office team.”

Clint Bowyer was chasing Hamlin down over the final green-flag run, but after Hamlin picked up time during the final pit stop, Bowyer wasn’t able to get close enough to challenge for the win.

After struggling with his car’s handling in practice and getting bit by a controversial call by NASCAR in qualifying, Bowyer said his weekend ended better than it started.

“This car was a little off…all weekend long; it took awhile for our Mustang to get good,” Bowyer said.  “I was a little nervous for the race, and we made some good adjustments.”

“I wanted to catch [Hamlin] bad; he just came out of the pits way too far ahead of me and there wasn’t much I could do about it.”

Unofficial results:

1. Denny Hamlin

2. Clint Bowyer

3. Daniel Suarez

4. Erik Jones

5. Jimmie Johnson

6. William Byron

7. Aric Almirola

8. Kevin Harvick

9. Kurt Busch

10. Kyle Busch

11. Ryan Newman

12. Martin Truex Jr.

13. Chase Elliott

14. Austin Dillon

15. Michael McDowell

16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

17. Joey Logano

18. Alex Bowman

19. Paul Menard

20. Chris Buescher

21. Ty Dillon

22. Ryan Preece

23. Bubba Wallace

24. Matt Tifft

25. David Ragan

26. Matt DiBenedetto

27. Parker Kligerman

28. Corey LaJoie

29. Ross Chastain

30. Landon Cassill

31. BJ McLoed

32. Garrett Smithley

33. Daniel Hemric

34. Reed Sorenson

35. Bayley Currey

36. Brad Keselowski

37. Ryan Blaney

38. Timmy Hill

39. Kyle Larson

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