Hamlin takes the lead out of pits
and holds off Byron in overtime to win at Darlington Raceway
[April 07, 2025]
By PETE IACOBELLI
DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) — Denny Hamlin did his job so his pit crew
could do its most stellar stop at the perfect time.
Hamlin came into the pits after a final caution in third place and
told himself to hit every mark, then let his guys take over.
And that's what the Joe Gibbs Racing group did, pulling off a
perfect winning moment that sent Hamlin out with the lead. He took
over on the final restart and held off William Byron to win the
Goodyear 400 on Sunday.
It was Hamlin's 56th career NASCAR win, his fifth at Darlington
Raceway and his second straight this season
“When you think about 56 wins, that's a huge deal,” said Gibbs,
Hamlin's longtime car owner.
Hamlin said he hung on throughout as Byron and others looked like
they might pull out victory. Instead, Hamlin waited out his time and
then pounced as he broke away during the green-white-checkered
finish.
“I can still do it, I can do it at a high level and look forward to
winning a lot of races this year,” Hamlin said.
Hamlin won for a second straight week after his success at
Martinsville.
Hamlin chose the outside lane for a final restart and shot out to
the lead and pulled away from series points leader Byron and NASCAR
wins leader Christopher Bell.
Hamlin looked like he'd have a strong finish, but not a winning one
as Ryan Blaney passed Tyler Reddick for the lead with three laps
left. But moments later, Kyle Larson spun out forcing a final
caution and the extra laps.
It was then time for Hamlin's Joe Gibbs Racing pit crew to shine as
it got him out quickly and in the lead.
Byron, who led the first 243 laps, was second with Hamlin's JGR
teammate Bell in third.
“There are two people I really love right now, my pit crew and Kyle
Larson,” Hamlin said to a round of boos from those in the stands.
Reddick was fourth and Blaney was fifth. The rest of the top 10
finishers were Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott, Ty
Gibbs and Kyle Busch.
Hamlin credited the past two victories to his pit crew.
“The pit crew just did an amazing job,” he said. “They won it last
week, they won it this week. It's all about them.”
Blaney had thought he was clear to his first-ever Darlington victory
after getting by Reddick late. When he saw the caution flag for
Larson's spin, he said he thought, “Oh, no! I thought we had the
race won."
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Denny Hamlin celebrates after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race
at Darlington Raceway, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Darlington, S.C.
(AP Photo/Scott Kinser)
So did Byron, who sought was to become the first
NASCAR driver in nearly 25 years to lead every lap on the way to
victory. He got shuffled down the standings during the last round of
green-flag pit stops and could not recover.
“It was looking like it was going to be a perfect race and we were
going to lead every lap,” he said.
But once “we lost control, it was too late to get back up there,”
Byron said.
Bad day
Kyle Larson, who won the Southern 500 here in 2023, had high hopes
for a second Darlington win. But he slid into the inside wall coming
off the second turn on lap three and went right to garage where his
team worked the next couple of hours to get him back on track.
Larson returned on lap 164 after falling 161 laps off the pace.
Larson finished next to last in 37th.
Biffle's ride
Greg Biffle, the last NASCAR driver to win consecutive Cup Series
victories at Darlington in 2006 and 2007, drove the pace car for the
Goodyear 400 on Sunday. Biffle has had an eventful few months,
flying rescue missions with his helicopter into areas of the
Southeast affected by devastating Hurricane Helene in September.
Biffle was planning a weeklong trip to the Bahamas when his phone
started going off about people stranded in parts of Western North
Carolina.
“I went to the hangar and the power was out,” Biffle said. “We got
the hangar down open with the tug and got the helicopter out. Once I
got in the air, I realized what had taken place."
Biffle then flew the next 11 days from “sunup to sundown."
“It was incredible,” Biffle said. “It was pretty tough going for the
first week.”
Biffle won the Myers Brothers Humanitarian Award for his work.
Up next
The series goes to Bristol on April 13 before taking its traditional
Easter break.
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