Hamlin Wins at Richmond Amid Differing Strategies

Denny Hamlin won the Toyota Owners 400 from Richmond Raceway on Sunday afternoon to pick up his first win of the season.

With the race winding down, the leaders utilized different pit strategies. William Byron led and tried to stay ahead of Martin Truex Jr. as they navigated lapped traffic, while the duo of Hamlin and Kevin Harvick quickly made their way to the front.

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With Byron and Truex on older tires, Hamlin took the lead with four laps to go and was able to hold off Harvick over the final laps.

Hamlin said his team had the perfect strategy on the final pit stop.

“So proud of this FedEx team, just never giving up,” Hamlin said.  “Great strategy there; drove as hard as I could. They got the car right there towards the end.”

Hamlin has had a slow start to the season, and didn’t have a Top 10 in the first six races of the season.

Hamlin said he had hoped to have a solid run to find out where their cars stacked up.

“Before the race, we needed a data point,” Hamlin said.  “A good run to balance ourselves on other tracks, and obviously I think we got it here.”

Harvick followed Hamlin past Truex and Byron, but couldn’t get close enough to make a move for the win.

Harvick said he was happy to have a strong result after they’ve brought fast cars to the track every week.

“It’s really the first clean day we’ve had all year,” Harvick said.  “Cars have been fast…just really proud of everyone on our Mobil 1 Ford Mustang for staying in there.”

“I wanted to be close enough at the white to take a swipe at him, but the lapped cars there kind of got in the way and I lost a little bit of ground. Hopefully a little momentum in a positive direction.”

Unofficial results:

1. Denny Hamlin

2. Kevin Harvick

3. William Byron

4. Martin Truex Jr.

5. Kyle Larson

6. Christopher Bell

7. Ryan Blaney

8. Alex Bowman

9. Kyle Busch

10. Austin Dillon

11. Chase Briscoe

12. Tyler Reddick

13. Brad Keselowski

14. Chase Elliott

15. Chris Buescher

16. Daniel Suarez

17. Joey Logano

18. Harrison Burton

19. Ross Chastain

20. Austin Cindric

21. Aric Almirola

22. Cole Custer

23. Erik Jones

24. Ty Dillon

25. Todd Gilliland

26. Bubba Wallace

27. AJ Allmendinger

28. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

29. Justin Haley

30. Michael McDowell

31. Corey LaJoie

32. Landon Cassill

33. JJ Yeley

34. BJ McLeod

35. Kurt Busch

36. Cody Ware

37. Greg Biffle

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Truex Holds off Hamlin to Win at Richmond

Martin Truex Jr. won the Federated Auto Parts 400 from Richmond Raceway on Saturday night to lock himself into the next round of the Playoffs.

Truex overtook his teammate Denny Hamlin during the final pit cycle and was ahead by over eight seconds with 50 laps to go.  After Truex’s tires began to wear out, Hamlin was able to cut the lead down to just two seconds but ran out of laps at the end of the race.

Truex started the race on the front row, but NASCAR penalized him for jumping the start.  The penalty put Truex in a hole early in the race, but he said he knew his car was fast enough to overcome the early penalty.

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“That was frustrating,” Truex said.  “It felt pretty good those first couple laps; I knew we’d have a good enough car to overcome it.”

The victory was Truex’s first since he won at Darlington in May, and Truex said the Joe Gibbs Racing cars are picking up at the right time.

“It’s been awhile,” Truex said.  “We talked last week about how much speed we’ve had in these things.  Very happy to get to do this and go to Bristol without any worries next week.”

Hamlin began the Playoffs last week with a victory, and he followed it up at Richmond with a strong run.

Hamlin said he was hoping to go back-to-back coming into the weekend.

“Just needed a couple more laps,” Hamlin said.  “I really wish we got two in a row…a great day for our team.  It’s go-time now.”

Unofficial results:

1. Martin Truex Jr.

2. Denny Hamlin

3. Christopher Bell

4. Chase Elliott

5. Joey Logano

6. Kyle Larson

7. Ross Chastain

8. Kevin Harvick

9. Kyle Busch

10. Ryan Blaney

11. Austin Dillon

12. Alex Bowman

13. Brad Keselowski

14. Aric Almirola

15. Tyler Reddick

16. Chase Briscoe

17. Daniel Suarez

18. Matt DiBenedetto

19. William Byron

20. Ryan Newman

21. Erik Jones

22. Cole Custer

23. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

24. Chris Buescher

25. Ryan Preece

26. Anthony Alfredo

27. Justin Haley

28. Michael McDowell

29. Corey LaJoie

30. BJ McLeod

31. Garrett Smithley

32. Bubba Wallace

33. Joey Gase

34. JJ Yeley

35. Quin Houff

36. Josh Bilicki

37. Kurt Busch

Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Bowman Passes Hamlin Late, Wins at Richmond

Alex Bowman won the Toyota Owners 400 from Richmond Raceway on Sunday afternoon.

Bowman had a fast car throughout the race, but he didn’t take the lead until a late restart with ten laps remaining.  After restarting third, Bowman got around Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin to pick up his first win of the season.

Bowman said he was able to get by Hamlin due to his crew chief’s slight adjustment on the final pit stop.

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“Getting to race a guy like Denny at a place like this is really cool,” Bowman said.  “We were terrible on short runs.  I don’t know if Greg Ives pumped the pressures way up or what he did, but that’s more grip than I’ve ever had in a racecar at Richmond.”

Bowman said the victory was emotional following the death of a crew member in the offseason.

“Means the world to be able to win for Ally,” Bowman said.  “Obviously emotional with how hard the offseason was on us.  Appreciative for the opportunity, and we’ve got a lot more races to win this year.”

Hamlin didn’t have enough time to chase down Bowman in the closing laps and had to settle for second.  With the dominant car on Sunday, Hamlin led a race-high 207 laps and swept both stages.

Hamlin said his team continues to roll even though they’ve been kept out of Victory Lane.

“We just didn’t take off quite as good there at the end,” Hamlin said.  “He had more grip there for a couple laps and I couldn’t hold the bottom.  Once he got position, we just got shoved out there.”

“Great job by this FedEx Ground team.  We’ll keep digging; we’re dominating, just got to finish it.”

Unofficial results:

1. Alex Bowman

2. Denny Hamlin

3. Joey Logano

4. Christopher Bell

5. Martin Truex Jr.

6. Aric Almirola

7. William Byron

8. Kyle Busch

9. Matt DiBenedetto

10. Austin Dillon

11. Ryan Blaney

12. Chase Elliott

13. Kurt Busch

14. Brad Keselowski

15. Ross Chastain

16. Daniel Suarez

17. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

18. Kyle Larson

19. Erik Jones

20. Tyler Reddick

21. Corey LaJoie

22. Chase Briscoe

23. Cole Custer

24. Kevin Harvick

25. Chris Buescher

26. Bubba Wallace

27. Michael McDowell

28. Austin Cindric

29. Ryan Preece

30. Ryan Newman

31. Anthony Alfredo

32. BJ McLeod

33. James Davison

34. Quin Houff

35. Garrett Smithley

36. Cody Ware

37. Josh Bilicki

38. Justin Haley

Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Keselowski Dominates in Richmond

 Originally written for CLNS Media.

Brad Keselowski won the Federated Auto Parts 400 from Richmond Raceway on Saturday night to lock himself into the second round of the Playoffs.

Keselowski was dominant all night, and led a race-high 192 laps.  Keselowski took the lead for the first time in Stage 2, and he was able to control the race the rest of the way.

Keselowski’s team brought the same car to Richmond that won earlier in the year at New Hampshire, and he said he hopes to take the same car to Phoenix and fight for the Championship.

“I wanted to do a really cool burnout with it, but I want this car for Phoenix; it’s two-for-two,” Keselowski said.  “I don’t want to look too far ahead; we’ve got to get there.”

“If we can get to Phoenix, we’ll be really good.”

Martin Truex Jr. was strong on Saturday, but he wasn’t able to catch Keselowski on the final run, ultimately settling for a second-place finish.

Truex said he didn’t think he was going to run up front after struggling with his car’s handling early in the race.

“Never really got the balance right all night,” Truex said.  “It was slow on the short run early and slow on the long run late.  Somewhere in between we’d be pretty competitive, but we really couldn’t just put it all together.”

“Just solid every week.  Hopefully we can keep putting ourselves in the front and we can win races.”

Next Saturday, the Cup Series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway for the final race in the firsr round of the Playoffs, where four drivers will be eliminated from championship contention.

Austin Dillon, one of the underdogs going into the Playoffs, followed up his runner-up finish at Darlington with a fourth-place at Richmond with one of the fastest cars of the night to put himself 36 points above the cut line.

Dillon said a late-race pit miscue may have cost him a shot at contending with Keselowski for the victory.

“When we came to pit road, we were trying to bring everybody down,” Dillon said.  “I was going to hit the red box, so I had to make another lap.  That cost us three seconds.”

“I hope they keep doubting us.  We’re in a good spot and we’ve got a good round after that.  We’ll go to Bristol and do what we need to do to get to the next round.”

Unofficial results:

1. Brad Keselowski

2. Martin Truex Jr.

3. Joey Logano

4. Austin Dillon

5. Chase Elliott

6. Kyle Busch

7. Kevin Harvick

8. Aric Almirola

9. Alex Bowman

10. Clint Bowyer

11. Tyler Reddick

12. Denny Hamlin

13. Kurt Busch

14. Cole Custer

15. Christopher Bell

16. Matt Kenseth

17. Matt DiBenedetto

18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

19. Ryan Blaney

20. Ryan Preece

21. William Byron

22. Erik Jones

23. Ryan Newman

24. Chris Buescher

25. Michael McDowell

26. Bubba Wallace

27. Corey LaJoie

28. Ty Dillon

29. Daniel Suarez

30. John Hunter Nemechek

31. Jimmie Johnson

32. Quin Houff

33. Brennan Poole

34. JJ Yeley

35. Joey Gase

36. Reed Sorenson

37. James Davison

38. Timmy Hill

Photos courtesy Jared C. Tilton and Sean Gardner (Getty Images)

Truex Continues Playoff Domination, Wins at Richmond

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Martin Truex Jr. won the Federated Auto Parts 400 from Richmond Raceway on Saturday night.

Truex had a dominant car on Saturday night, and his car was especially fast on the long run. 

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Truex won at Richmond earlier in the season, and he said he knew his team brought another fast car after he won Stage 1.

“To sweep Richmond finally is pretty awesome, with as much as we’ve led here,” Truex said.  “When things are rolling, they just are.  Hopefully we can keep it going.”

While Truex was dominant for most of the race, he did have a spin while leading.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made contact with Truex, and he fell to third after spinning to bring out the caution.

Truex said he was surprised he was able to recover so quickly following the spin.

“Luckily we didn’t hit anything,” Truex said.  “I just tried to keep it out of the fence and get it spun around, and…we got going in a pretty good spot.”

Kyle Busch led a race-high 202 laps, but he failed to hold off his teammate in the closing laps. 

Busch said Truex’s car was just faster on the long run.

“I don’t think we were as good as him all night long,” Busch said.  “When I was up front he could keep the closest distance to me; that kind of worried me.”

Unofficial results:

1. Martin Truex Jr.

2. Kyle Busch

3. Denny Hamlin

4. Erik Jones

5. Brad Keselowski

6. Ryan Newman

7. Kyle Larson

8. Kevin Harvick

9. Clint Bowyer

10. Daniel Suarez

11. Jimmie Johnson

12. Joey Logano

13. Bubba Wallace

14. Chase Elliott

15. Matt DiBenedetto

16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

17. Aric Almirola

18. Ryan Blaney

19. Kurt Busch

20. David Ragan

21. Matt Tifft

22. Michael McDowell

23. Austin Dillon

24. Alex Bowman

25. William Byron

26. Daniel Hemric

27. Ty Dillon

28. Paul Menard

29. Landon Cassill

30. Corey LaJoie

31. Ryan Preece

32. Chris Buescher

33. Austin Theriault

34. JJ Yeley

35. Spencer Boyd

36. Quin Houff

37. Ross Chastain

38. Reed Sorenson

Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Truex Finally Wins with Joe Gibbs at Richmond

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Martin Truex Jr. won the Toyota Owners 400 from Richmond Raceway on Saturday night for his first win of the season.

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Truex finally broke through to win with Joe Gibbs Racing after switching to the Toyota powerhouse following Furniture Row Racing’s closure at the end of 2018.  Truex came into the race winless, while two of his teammates Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin have won five of the first eight races.

Truex said he was excited to finally win with his new team.

“We’re just really excited,” Truex said.  “Everyone at JGR is doing a great job…we’ve been chipping away at it, so hopefully we can get better from here on out.”

Truex led the most laps on Saturday, but he had to hold off Joey Logano and Clint Bowyer over the final 50 laps.

With the laps winding down, Truex said he began to struggle with his car’s handling.

“I was struggling the last 40 laps; had no front turn,” Truex said.  “I was just real tight that last run.  It was real important to be out front tonight, but thanks to the pit crew they kept us out there.”

Logano was able to get to Truex’s bumper on the final lap, but wasn’t able to pass the driver of the No. 19. 

The two have history together; Logano moved Truex on the final lap at the Playoff race in Martinsville last fall, and the move helped Logano win his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship.

Logano said the move from last season was on his mind as the race was coming to a close.

“We were close, but not close enough,” Logano said.  “I figured something out there at the end with about 10 laps to go to make up some speed.”

“When you’re frustrated with second, that’s a good sign about where your team’s at.”

Unofficial results:

1. Martin Truex Jr.

2. Joey Logano

3. Clint Bowyer

4. Kevin Harvick

5. Denny Hamlin

6. Austin Dillon

7. Brad Keselowski

8. Kyle Busch

9. Ryan Newman

10. Paul Menard

11. Kurt Busch

12. Jimmie Johnson

13. William Byron

14. Erik Jones

15. Chase Elliott

16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

17. Alex Bowman

18. Daniel Suarez

19. Daniel Hemric

20. Ryan Preece

21. Ty Dillon

22. Chris Buescher

23. Aric Almirola

24. Matt DiBenedetto

25. Ryan Blaney

26. Corey LaJoie

27. Bubba Wallace

28. David Ragan

29. Matt Tifft

30. Ross Chastain

31. Jeb Burton

32. Bayley Currey

33. Joey Gase

34. Quin Houff

35. Landon Cassill

36. Michael McDowell

37. Kyle Larson

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Kyle Busch Wins at Richmond

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Kyle Busch won the Federated Auto Parts 400 from Richmond Raceway on Saturday night.

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Busch had a fast car from the drop of the green flag, and drove up through the field after starting in the back of the pack after damaging his car in qualifying.

Busch said the victory was a testament to his team’s ability to fix the car before the race.

“I had a dismal qualifying effort,” Busch said.  “I put us a little behind yesterday in qualifying…being able to start last and come up through the field to win this thing.”

Kevin Harvick was chasing Busch down over the final 20 laps, but Busch was able to keep himself ahead of Harvick as the two worked through lapped traffic.

Busch said he was surprised he wasn’t able to run away from Harvick over the final run.

“Harvick was getting me a little bit there at the end,” Busch said.  “That was too close for my comfort; I thought we were better than that on the long run.”

Harvick said he didn’t want to push his luck and risk losing points heading into next weekend’s race at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Roval.

“I’m terrified of next week,” Harvick said.  “There are so many unknowns.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Busch

2. Kevin Harvick

3. Martin Truex Jr.

4. Chase Elliott

5. Aric Almirola

6. Austin Dillon

7. Kyle Larson

8. Jimmie Johnson

9. Brad Keselowski

10. Clint Bowyer

11. Erik Jones

12. Alex Bowman

13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

14. Joey Logano

15. Ryan Newman

16. Denny Hamlin

17. Daniel Suarez

18. Kurt Busch

19. Ryan Blaney

20. William Byron

21. Jamie McMurray

22. Paul Menard

23. David Ragan

24. Michael McDowell

25. Matt Kenseth

26. Cole Custer

27. Darrell Wallace Jr.

28. Ty Dillon

29. AJ Allmendinger

30. Chris Buescher

31. Regan Smith

32. Corey LaJoie

33. Ross Chastain

34. Matt DiBenedetto

35. Joey Gase

36. Landon Cassill

37. Jeffrey Earnhardt

38. Alon Day

39. Timmy Hill

40. Gray Gaulding

Robert Laberge/Getty Images

Kyle Busch Continues to Win in Richmond

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Kyle Busch won the Toyota Owners 400 from Richmond Raceway on Saturday night for his third-straight victory.

Robert Laberge/Getty Images

Busch started 32nd on Saturday, but he quickly worked his way into the Top 10 within the first 50 laps.  After becoming the first driver to win at Richmond from so far back in the field, Busch said he owed the win to his team.

“The pit crew tonight, they won this race for us,” Busch said.  “Those last two times we came down for tires...they got us where we needed to be.”

Busch took the lead late, and he had to hold off the field on two late restarts after cautions forced the race into overtime.  On the final restart, Busch pulled ahead of Chase Elliott to win for the third-straight time.

Busch said he was excited to win his third race, but that it would be hard to go for four-straight with Talladega looming next weekend.

“It’s hard to go to Talladega with that much of a winning streak and think you can win,” Busch said.  “I don’t know if you can shoot for four-in-a-row, but we’re going to go there and give it a shot.”

Elliott finished second for the eighth time in his career after he couldn’t catch Busch in the closing laps.

Elliott said his cars still don’t have the speed to win, but that he was happy to get a good finish.

“We still have a lot of work to do…to have the speed that we need to drive it like we want it to,” Elliott said.  “Our restarts fell into our hands there at the end; having short runs kind of fell into our favor and I was able to move forward.”

“Circumstances were on our side tonight, which is not normal, so I’m happy about that.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Busch

2. Chase Elliott

3. Denny Hamlin

4. Joey Logano

5. Kevin Harvick

6. Jimmie Johnson

7. Kyle Larson

8. Brad Keselowski

9. Clint Bowyer

10. Daniel Suarez

11. Kurt Busch

12. William Byron

13. Erik Jones

14. Martin Truex Jr.

15. Austin Dillon

16. Matt DiBenedetto

17. Aric Almirola

18. Alex Bowman

19. Jamie McMurray

20. Ty Dillon

21. Trevor Bayne

22. Ryan Blaney

23. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

24. Paul Menard

25. Darrell Wallace Jr.

26. Chris Buescher

27. AJ Allmendinger

28. Ross Chastain

29. Kasey Kahne

30. Cole Whitt

31. Michael McDowell

32. Daniel Hemric

33. David Ragan

34. Landon Cassill

35. Gray Gaulding

36. Harrison Rhodes

37. Ryan Newman

38. Reed Sorenson

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images