DARLINGTON, S.C. - Denny Hamlin picked up his third NASCAR Xfinity Series win of the season with a victory in Saturday’s VFW Sport Clips Help A Hero 200 at Darlington Raceway.
Hamlin rallied from a near-disastrous pit stop and worked his way back through the field to take the lead from his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Daniel Suarez with two laps to go and beat out his other JGR teammate Kyle Busch by over two seconds to collect his 14th career Xfinity Series win.
Suarez held on for a third place finish to complete the 1-2-3 sweep for Joe Gibb Racing and win the $100,000 bonus in the Xfinity Dash 4 Cash. Kevin Harvick came home fourth, followed by series points leader Chris Buescher.
The victory was Hamlin’s fourth-career Xfinity Series win at Darlington, tying Harry Gant and Jeff Burton for second all-time.
Hamlin’s crew almost blew any chance of victory after failing to fill the car full of fuel during a pit stop on lap 71, but what could have been a disaster turned out to be a blessing in disguise – allowing Hamlin to get some fresh tires that ultimately turned out to be the winning strategy
“I’m almost glad we didn’t (get the car full of fuel),” said Hamlin. “We didn’t want a caution to fall and trap us there, but I had scraped the wall and kind of misjudged my line one time and got a little right-side damage, and the car just stopped turning.
“I don’t know if the right side would have made it or not (under the pressure of all-out racing).”
Hamlin led from the pole and led a race-high 117 laps, trading the lead with Harvick six times over the first 130 laps.
The only hiccup in Hamlin’s afternoon came during that fateful pit stop, when his pit crew was unable to get a second can of fuel into his No. 20 SportsClips Toyota Camry.
Hamlin continued to lead the field for the next 60 laps, knowing he would have to make at least one more stop for fuel before the end of the race.
Suarez, who had managed to run in the top 10 all afternoon, worked his way toward the front and managed to crack the top five when Hamlin finally came to pit road with 25 laps to go.
With the leaders pitting under green, Suarez took over the top spot and tried to stretch his fuel in a bid for his first Xfinity Series victory, holding off Harvick and Ty Dillon before they both ducked to pit road.
Following his green flag pit stop, Hamlin began working his way back to the front, tearing through the field on four fresh tires, forcing Busch to come to pit road for tires just to keep pace with Hamlin.
With ten laps to go, Hamlin was back in the top three and five laps later was less than a car length behind Suarez.
Coming to two laps to go, Hamlin pulled to the inside of Suarez in turn two and re-claimed the lead. Busch would then get past Suarez for second but had no chance of catching Hamlin.
“The 20 (Denny Hamlin) was really good in final practice yesterday and they showed it today – they were just a little bit better than us. We just didn’t quite have enough, so we got second,” said Busch. “I got within a second of them, but then pit strategy there at the end – Denny being short on fuel – it won them the race. Getting those tires way earlier than everybody else just gave them such a big cushion that it was too much to overcome, so the Monster Energy Camry comes second.”
Suarez’ fuel gamble didn’t pay off for a win, but earned him and a lucky fan a $100,000 bonus as the highest finisher among the four Dash 4 Cash participants, marking the second time Suarez has won the award this season.
“That was great. I’ll take it,” said Suarez of winning the Dash 4 Cash. “This race track was something brand new for me, something very different than everything I have raced before and I feel like I leave this historic place with a third-place finish and the Dash 4 Cash – this is just really good.
Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, Landon Cassill, Regan Smith and Ross Chastain completed the top ten finishers.
Chase Elliott, who came into Saturday’s race second in points, finished three laps down in 24th after his engine went sour with 28 laps left, knocking him to third in points, 35 points behind Buescher. Ty Dillon worked his way to a 15th place finish to take over the second spot in the standings, trailing by 29 points.
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Darlington Raceway – Darlington, SC
VFW Sport Clips Help A Hero 200 – Sept. 5, 2015
1. (1) Denny Hamlin(i), Toyota, 147, $53679.
2. (36) Kyle Busch(i), Toyota, 147, $32435.
3. (2) Daniel Suarez #, Toyota, 147, $32251.
4. (9) Kevin Harvick(i), Chevrolet, 147, $21878.
5. (10) Chris Buescher, Ford, 147, $28698.
6. (4) Joey Logano(i), Ford, 147, $18464.
7. (3) Kyle Larson(i), Chevrolet, 147, $17790.
8. (19) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 147, $23854.
9. (8) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 147, $23555.
10. (14) Ross Chastain #, Chevrolet, 147, $24227.
11. (24) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 147, $23099.
12. (12) Brian Scott, Chevrolet, 146, $23024.
13. (6) Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, 146, $22973.
14. (15) Darrell Wallace Jr. #, Ford, 146, $22922.
15. (13) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 146, $23271.
16. (11) J.J. Yeley, Toyota, 146, $22745.
17. (18) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 146, $22694.
18. (26) Dakoda Armstrong, Ford, 146, $22643.
19. (21) Cale Conley #, Toyota, 146, $22593.
20. (16) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 145, $23017.
21. (20) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 145, $22666.
22. (25) David Starr, Toyota, 145, $22410.
23. (17) Ryan Reed, Ford, 145, $22359.
24. (7) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 144, $23284.
25. (5) Paul Menard(i), Chevrolet, 144, $16156.
26. (23) John Wes Townley(i), Chevrolet, 144, $22157.
27. (22) Blake Koch, Toyota, 143, $22106.
28. (33) Eric McClure, Toyota, 142, $22031.
29. (28) Todd Bodine, Chevrolet, 141, $21995.
30. (32) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, 141, $22254.
31. (31) B.J. McLeod(i), Chevrolet, 138, $21899.
32. (30) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 134, $21854.
33. (35) Harrison Rhodes #, Chevrolet, Vibration, 83, $21828.
34. (38) Mike Harmon, Dodge, Suspension, 82, $21807.
35. (34) Morgan Shepherd, Chevrolet, Brakes, 34, $15550.
36. (27) T.J. Bell(i), Toyota, Clutch, 23, $14039.
37. (37) Carlos Contreras, Chevrolet, Accident, 10, $19245.
38. (29) Jeff Green, Toyota, Suspension, 6, $12039.
39. (39) Carl Long, Dodge, Suspension, 4, $11039.
40. (40) Ryan Ellis(i), Ford, Suspension, 1, $10039.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 141.355 mph.
Time of Race: 01 Hrs, 25 Mins, 14 Secs. Margin of Victory: 2.058 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 2 for 8 laps.
Lead Changes: 7 among 3 drivers.
Lap Leaders: D. Hamlin(i) 1-29; K. Harvick(i) 30-34; D. Hamlin(i) 35-48; K. Harvick(i) 49-50; D. Hamlin(i) 51-121; K. Harvick(i) 122-130; D. Suarez # 131-144; D. Hamlin(i) 145-147.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): D. Hamlin(i) 4 times for 117 laps; K. Harvick(i) 3 times for 16 laps; D. Suarez # 1 time for 14 laps.
Top 10 in Points: C. Buescher – 874; T. Dillon – 845; C. Elliott – 839; R. Smith – 820; E. Sadler – 783; D. Wallace Jr. # – 766; D. Suarez # – 759; B. Scott – 755; B. Gaughan – 736; R. Reed – 652.
