Denny Hamlin won from the pole position at World Wide Technology Raceway, playing the strategy perfectly to lead the final 25 laps in his series-high fifth victory this season.
With his 59th career win, Hamlin advanced to the second round of the Cup Series playoffs and joined Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe, who finished second after winning last week’s opener at Darlington Raceway.
Crew chief Chris Gayle called the No. 11 Toyota for its final pit stop with 44 laps remaining, and Hamlin cycled to the front on a caution 15 laps later. Hamlin seized the lead from Brad Keselowski on the restart, delivering the 200th win in NASCAR’s premier series for Toyota.
“Yeah, it’s so big for everyone at Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing,” Hamlin told NBC Sports’ Marty Snider. “The Toyota was just great there at the end. And so happy to get this victory and my dad’s not feeling well at home. So just shoutout to him. The whole family’s here, so fantastic day and it couldn’t be better.
“I just step up. All I can do is just keep being a student of the game, keep trying to get better, and every week is a chance to get a little better. … You all can boo me, but you can either get on the bandwagon, or you can get run over by it.”
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver won from the pole to earn his series-high fifth victory this season.
It was the second consecutive race that Toyotas swept the top two as Briscoe rebounded from a slow pit stop after he locked his brakes and collided with Daniel Suarez. His No. 19 Camry fell to 33rd after winning the first stage but relied on pace and strategy for his second consecutive top five.
“I would say our strength was our speed,” Briscoe told NBC Sports’ Kim Coon. “We had a really good Toyota. Our weakness was just the sloppiness. Whether it was me behind the wheel or pit road. Great recovery. (Crew chief) James (Small) did an amazing job of doing something different to get us up there. I would have loved to battle up there and potentially try to be everybody’s favorite driver for Toyota’s 200th win. … The thing is a dream to drive.”
Chase Elliott finished third, followed by Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano as playoff drivers swept the top five spots at the 1.25-mile oval outside St. Louis that is commonly referred to as Gateway.
Blaney is 42 points above the cutline after rallying for a top five despite being spun by Kyle Larson with 100 laps remaining. Blaney engaged Larson in a conversation afterward.
Both drivers build a cushion to the cutline heading into this weekend’s cutoff race at Bristol.
“I just wanted to know what I did to deserve it,” Blaney told NBC Sports’ Dillon Welch. “He just said he made a mistake. That’s fine. Make mistakes. But like at the end of the day, I still got turned. Came from all the way up the bottom of the racetrack, hit me in he left rear. I know he most likely didn’t mean to do it, but it happened anyway. That’s one I’ve got to remember. I was happy we bounced back, did a good job of coming out where we need to be. Having a good enough car to get back to fourth.”
Larson finished 12th and is 60 points above the cutline — meaning he will clinch a second-round berth virtually by starting the Sept. 13 cutoff race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
“I just told (Blaney) I messed up,” Larson told Coon. “I wasn’t meaning obviously to go in there and hit him. Just misjudged the point of where I wasn’t going to get next to him and tuck in. I just clipped him. All on me. But wasn’t intentional at all. I hope he understands that. Obviously I hurt his day where he could have gained more points. … But yeah, all in all, I mean, outside of that, it was a great race for us.”
Larson led twice for 52 laps before getting off strategy when his No. 5 Chevrolet was damaged on a restart collision with Bubba Wallace, who won the second stage and led 73 laps. Wallace also rebounded for seventh and also is on the cusp of advancing at 50 points above the cutline.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver led the final 25 laps at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Bristol will trim the playoff field from 16 to 12 drivers. After Gateway, Shane van Gisbergen, Austin Dillon, Alex Bowman and Josh Berry are outside the top 12 points positions that will advance to the second round.
Berry will need a win at Bristol to advance to the next round after opening his Cup playoff debut with consecutive last-place finishes. The Wood Brothers Racing driver was tapped in the left rear by Chase Elliott, sending Berry’s No. 21 Ford spinning into the Turn 2 wall on the 36th lap.
“Chase and that team have done a lot for me, and I really doubt that was on purpose,” said Berry, who crashed on the first lap of the playoff opener at Darlington Raceway. “Just wrong place, wrong time for us again. Obviously, it’s unfortunate. We’ll just go to Bristol and try to do the best we can and put ourselves in position to race for a win, and that’s really all we can do at this point.”
Contact from Elliott sends Berry into outside wall
After crashing on Lap 1 last week, Josh Berry finds himself against the outside wall once again after contact from Chase Elliott sends the No. 21 around at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Stage 1 winner: Chase Briscoe
Stage 2 winner: Bubba Wallace
Next: Saturday, Sept. 13, 7:30 p.m. ET at Bristol Motor Speedway on USA
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