Denny Hamlin Wins At Richmond With A Late-Race Charge

Following the dramatic end to the Next Gen car’s road course debut at the Circuit of the Americas, the NASCAR Cup Series designed its very first details-shelling out trip with the new machinery to a small track, the three-quarters of a mile Richmond Raceway. The wheel-to-wheel action did not disappoint. Side-by-aspect racing was regular. There have been several 3-wides on restarts and even a four-extensive moment or two.

In qualifying, Penske’s Ryan Blaney set his Ford Mustang on the pole for the 3rd time this period, beating Hendrick’s William Bryon. Having said that, Blaney was speedy to reiterate how he lacked assurance all-around the track. He advised Racer, “I will say, it’s unquestionably not been my very best position at all. I struggled in this article actually poor for decades, and I still never really feel like I’m excellent below at all.”

The race started cleanly as the entrance of the area immediately filed down to a solitary line. It was only a matter of time right up until the tires came up to temperature for the drivers and the motion actually began. Even though before then, the initial caution came out on lap 10. 23XI’s Kurt Busch shut off his Toyota’s motor soon after puttering around the monitor with a gas pickup concern.

The rest of the initially phase went efficiently as Ryan Blaney led every single lap of the initially phase. And, he even now led for the get started of the next stage soon after a spherical of pit stops. Blaney accelerated absent nicely for the restart, but it did not go as perfectly for the driver guiding him. Hendrick’s Chase Elliott ran into slight difficulties as his tires broke traction as he took the restart from third. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch took edge of the chance to shoot the middle gap into transform 1 and pass Elliott a few-vast.

Blaney lastly yielded the guide to Christopher Bell when the Penske driver pitted on lap 132 under environmentally friendly flag situations. Bell held on for in excess of 20 laps just before pitting for refreshing tires. His teammate Martin Truex Jr., one of the initially motorists to pit, cycled into the guide. It did not get prolonged for Bell to discover himself back in the struggle for the direct. Truex would go on to gain the phase.

In the course of the 3rd and last stage, the JGR Toyotas of Bell and Truex commenced to fade owing to tire dress in. This was about when William Byron took the direct and his teammate Kyle Larson produced his way toward the front. A third JGR Toyota entered the photograph as Denny Hamlin experienced fresher tires and was putting a second for every lap into the margin up the observe to Byron. In the closing laps, Hamlin handed Byron for the guide, cruised to the complete and received the Toyota Dealers 400.

The NASCAR Cup Series will race once more on a further Virginia small keep track of upcoming weekend, Martinsville Speedway.