Denny Hamlin goes back-to-back, winning Darlington Cup race in overtime

Denny Hamlin now has 56 career victories in the NASCAR Cup Series, but it was not a dominant showing like his Martinsville victory just one week ago. Driving a throwback scheme paying tribute to Carl Edwards, Hamlin earned his fifth win at the track ‘too tough to tame’, in a race that was ultimately won via pit road.

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First, a well-timed caution mid-race netted Hamlin a lot of track position and put him up into the top five. He was able to lap within the top five for the remainder of the race, surging from third to first on pit road during the final pit stop of the event. In the end, Hamlin led just ten laps — in a race where William Byron was up front for more than 240.

“There’s two people I really love right now: my pit crew and Kyle Larson. Had a little assist there, so thank you,” said Hamlin, poke fun at what caused the final caution of the race. “Man, the pit crew just did an amazing job. They won it last week. They won it this week. It’s all about them. Thanks Sport Clips. They have such a big deal here in Darlington, South Carolina … We’ll see you at Victory Lane.”

This is the first time Hamlin has won back-to-back Cup races since the 2012 season. When asked if there would be any Edwards-inspired backflip, Hamlin laughed. “I’ll pass. If Carl is here, he’s more than welcome to jump off the car.” Edwards also waved the green flag to officially start Sunday’s race.

Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

James Gilbert / Getty Images

Byron and Blaney come up empty handed after stellar showings

Byron initially looked unstoppable, leading the first 243 laps unopposed. However, a round of green-flag pit stops halfway through the final stage completely changed the complexion of the race. Tyler Reddick, who pitted a few laps earlier than most of the leaders, ended up taking control with a comfortable lead. Byron was stuck behind Christopher Bell, while Ryan Blaney was flying, with the freshest tires after running longer than most others.

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Blaney eventually ran down Reddick and the two briefly battled for the lead before Blaney got the upper hand. A quick chain of events that immediately followed completely changed the outcome once again. As Blaney passed Reddick, the 23XI Racing driver ran wide and pancaked the wall. Right behind him, Kyle Larson, who was running over 160 laps down after an earlier incident, checked up and spun off the nose of Bubba Wallace. As he crashed into the inside wall, it forced a yellow flag and pushed the race into overtime.

Watch: Ryan Blaney on Darlington heartbreak: ‘I thought we had the race won’

At that point, it all came down to pit road where Blaney’s team had struggled all day. Again, he lost some spots, fall from first to fourth while Hamlin jumped into the lead. He lined up next the car he co-owns with Michael Jordan [Reddick], who was looking on anxiously from the pits. Hamlin proceeded to get a fantastic restart and that was essentially the end of it, leaving the rest of the field to sort it out for the lesser positions.

Byron fought his way back to second, Bell was third, Reddick fourth, and Blaney fifth. Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs, and Kyle Busch rounded out the top ten.

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