Denny Hamlin Wins Goodyear 400 at Darlington: Key Takeaways

The NASCAR Cup Series made its first visit of the year to Darlington Raceway on April 6, and the biggest storyline was a dominant performance that didn’t end in victory for the driver who led the most laps. The Goodyear 400, held during Darlington’s famed Throwback Weekend, once again delivered plenty of drama and left fans with no shortage of talking points.

The Green Flag dropped with William Byron and Ryan Preece on the front row, as Preece was chasing his first-career NCS win, while Byron was looking to gain as many Playoff Points as he can before the series comes back for the Playoff-Opener in September for the Southern 500. However, on Lap 4, Byron’s teammate, Kyle Larson, lost control coming out of Turn 2, slamming the inside retaining wall, which took him out of contention and sent him to the garage for the majority of the race.

The Green Flag came back out on Lap 8, with Byron once again leading the charge. Byron, who was sporting a Jeff Gordon throwback to his final career race in 2015, pulled away from Preece and the rest of the field, as everyone went into tire-conservation mode. On Lap 82, Carson Hocevar came up on Riley Herbst’s bumper into the Frontstretch wall, coming out of Turn 4. This prompted a caution, which led to a two-lap sprint to end Stage 1.

Byron was able to capitalize off his already-dominant performance, as Bubba Wallace, Preece, Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick rounded out the Top-5 respectively, as there was a three-wide battle for second place to end the Stage.

Byron led the field to begin Stage 2, with Reddick following behind him on Lap 108. Byron had led every lap at this point, and his #24 Axalta Chevrolet looked to be the team to beat. On Lap 135, Brad Keselowski spun coming out of Turn 4, but NASCAR inconsistently did not throw out a caution. Green Flag Pit Stops continued, until a Lap 144 restart occurred.

Byron continued to lead, as Joey Logano drove up to second-place, and was followed by Denny Hamlin, Josh Berry and Christopher Bell in the Top-5. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson rejoined the race just before Lap 150 and made minimum speed, which is required by NASCAR to rejoin the race.

Byron won Stage 2, and the rest of the Top-5 finishers of this Stage were Logano, Hamlin, Ryan Blaney and Berry, respectively. The rest of the race consisted of Byron leading the field to begin the final stage, as the race resumed with less than 100-to-go. On Lap 195, Josh Berry got loose in the same spot as Larson did earlier, also slamming the wall on the Backstretch, ending his day immediately.

On the Lap 202 restart, Bell drove side-by-side alongside Byron, but couldn’t’ keep up. With 49-to-go, Green Flag Pit Stops took place, as Denny Hamlin took the lead while Byron went into the pits. Bell challenged his JGR teammate of Hamlin, as Reddick stayed out to claim the lead. This was the first time all day Byron didn’t lead the race, as he had to pass various cars on his drive to the front.

With 14-to-go, Reddick still held the lead, with Blaney following behind him. Both drivers were running on old tires, knowing Hamlin was creeping up behind them. With only four laps remaining, Kyle Larson crashed in the exact same spot as earlier, prompting a caution, while forcing Reddick and Blaney to come down pit road before a Green-White-Checkered finish. The entire field came down Pit Road and Hamlin was first off, followed by Reddick

The final restart saw Hamlin in control of Byron and Reddick, but Hamlin drove it like he stole it, and was able to collect his 56th-career NCS win and second-in-a-row. William Byron left Darlington heartbroken with a second-place finish, but at least he and his crew chief left the South Carolina track with a full notebook for Labor Day Weekend.

The NASCAR Cup Series’ next event would be the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee on April 13th. Last year’s Food City 500 provided a lot of tire wear and drivers anticipated having a handful to deal with at the Tennessee Short Track. Stay tuned for this publication here on everymanoneverycrew.com.