{"id":45169,"date":"2024-03-31T23:09:01","date_gmt":"2024-04-01T04:09:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=45169"},"modified":"2024-04-09T11:31:41","modified_gmt":"2024-04-09T16:31:41","slug":"hamlin-holds-off-truex-in-overtime-to-win-at-richmond-raceway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/31\/hamlin-holds-off-truex-in-overtime-to-win-at-richmond-raceway\/","title":{"rendered":"Hamlin holds off Truex in overtime to win at Richmond Raceway"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Mavis Tires & Brakes Toyota, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway on March 31, 2024 in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Holly Cain<\/em><\/p>\n

NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

Denny Hamlin\u2019s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team gave him a clutch pit stop to emerge with the lead out of the pits and then he was able to hold the advantage on a two-lap overtime shootout to claim the Toyota Owners 400 victory Saturday night at his home track, Richmond (Va.) Raceway.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Mavis Tires & Brakes Toyota, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway on March 31, 2024 in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Alex Slitz\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

It was Hamlin\u2019s 53rd career NASCAR Cup Series win, second of the season and his fifth victory at the three-quarter mile Richmond oval \u2013 a .269-second margin of victory over Team Penske\u2019s Joey Logano. And it came at the expense of his JGR teammate Martin Truex Jr. who finished fourth despite leading a dominant 228 of the race\u2019s 407 laps.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a team win for sure,\u201d said Hamlin, who led 17 laps on the night. \u201cEach one of these pit crew members just did an amazing job, they\u2019ve been killing it all year.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch a great feeling when you can come in and have a pit crew like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Mavis Tires & Brakes Toyota, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway on March 31, 2024 in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Alex Slitz\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

It was a certainly a frustrating ending for Truex, who had been out front 54 consecutive laps in his No. 19 JGR Toyota when a caution flag flew with only two laps of regulation remaining. On the ensuing pit stop, Hamlin beat him off pit road and Truex was unable to take the lead back in that final two lap run, ultimately getting passed by Logano for second and polesitter Kyle Larson for third.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate, but it\u2019s happened a few times over the years,\u201d Truex said. \u201cWe were in a great spot and had a great Auto Owners Camry all night long and the guys did a really good job. Just got beat out of the pits and then he [Hamlin] jumped the start and just used me up in Turn 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely sucks. Another car capable of winning, we\u2019ll just have to come back next week and try to get one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Mavis Tires & Brakes Toyota, leads Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota, on the restart to win the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway on March 31, 2024 in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Alex Slitz\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

The silver lining for Truex, is that he still holds the championship lead by 14 points over Larson, who had a busy ending to the race. Contact between Hendrick Motorsports\u2019 Larson and 23XI Racing\u2019s Bubba Wallace brought out the final yellow flag to force the first overtime period for a NASCAR Cup Series race this season.<\/p>\n

Larson was still able to come out fourth place on the pit stop and challenge for the win, although he and Truex banged doors in the closing laps fighting for position.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy pit crew did a really good job to get us off pit road and get us those spots to restart fourth and gain one more,\u201d Larson said. \u201cI\u2019ll take third after what could have been a lot worse there on the front stretch. Proud of the HendrickCars.com team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a good weekend for us, winning the pole, winning a stage and getting back to third. Happy about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Mavis Tires & Brakes Toyota, pits during the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway on March 31, 2024 in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Alex Slitz\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

As for the late race contact between him and a frustrated Truex, Larson said. \u201cI think he was just mad. He was mad the 11 [Hamlin] used him up on the restart and that\u2019s probably where it really started from.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he was more mad at Denny but I was the closest one for him to take his anger out on,\u201d Larson added with a smile.<\/p>\n

Larson\u2019s Hendrick teammate \u2013 and fellow front-row starter \u2013 Chase Elliott finished fifth.<\/p>\n

Joe Gibbs Racing\u2019s Christopher Bell, Hendrick\u2019s William Byron, RFK Racing teammates Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher and 23XI Racing\u2019s Tyler Reddick rounded out the top-10. Stewart-Haas Racing\u2019s Josh Berry finished 11th, having run in the top-10 most of the night and Wallace, who also ran top-10 most of the race finished 13th after that late race contact with Larson.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Mavis Tires & Brakes Toyota, poses with the winner sticker on his car after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway on March 31, 2024 in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Of note, with the track still damp from afternoon showers, the field started the race on wet weather tires. NASCAR threw a competition caution at Lap 30, bringing the cars down pit road for a mandatory change to racing slicks. And cars returned to the track in the order they were running at the time of caution. The move to use the wet weather tires allowed the race to start only a few minutes late and was widely praised.<\/p>\n

The NASCAR Cup Series moves to another short track challenge next Sunday with the Cook Out 400 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. Larson is the defending race winner.<\/p>\n

Interviews:<\/h3>\n

NCS Winning Driver, Denny Hamlin and Crew Chief, Chris Gabehart and Car Owner, Joe Gibbs (No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) – <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

NASCAR Cup Series Race \u2013 Toyota Owners 400<\/strong><\/p>\n

Richmond Raceway<\/strong><\/p>\n

Richmond, Virginia<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sunday, March 31, 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. (11)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 407.<\/li>\n
  2. (10)  Joey Logano, Ford, 407.<\/li>\n
  3. (1)  Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 407.<\/li>\n
  4. (7)  Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 407.<\/li>\n
  5. (2)  Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 407.<\/li>\n
  6. (29)  Christopher Bell, Toyota, 407.<\/li>\n
  7. (13)  William Byron, Chevrolet, 407.<\/li>\n
  8. (23)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 407.<\/li>\n
  9. (14)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 407.<\/li>\n
  10. (19)  Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 407.<\/li>\n
  11. (30)  Josh Berry #, Ford, 407.<\/li>\n
  12. (17)  Noah Gragson, Ford, 407.<\/li>\n
  13. (5)  Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 407.<\/li>\n
  14. (27)  Erik Jones, Toyota, 407.<\/li>\n
  15. (3)  Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 407.<\/li>\n
  16. (8)  Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 407.<\/li>\n
  17. (4)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 407.<\/li>\n
  18. (32)  Chase Briscoe, Ford, 407.<\/li>\n
  19. (12)  Ryan Blaney, Ford, 407.<\/li>\n
  20. (15)  Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 407.<\/li>\n
  21. (6)  Todd Gilliland, Ford, 407.<\/li>\n
  22. (20)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 407.<\/li>\n
  23. (9)  Austin Cindric, Ford, 406.<\/li>\n
  24. (22)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 406.<\/li>\n
  25. (18)  John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 406.<\/li>\n
  26. (31)  Michael McDowell, Ford, 406.<\/li>\n
  27. (25)  Carson Hocevar #, Chevrolet, 406.<\/li>\n
  28. (16)  Ryan Preece, Ford, 406.<\/li>\n
  29. (33)  Ty Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 406.<\/li>\n
  30. (34)  Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 405.<\/li>\n
  31. (35)  Kaz Grala #, Ford, 405.<\/li>\n
  32. (36)  Justin Haley, Ford, 405.<\/li>\n
  33. (24)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 405.<\/li>\n
  34. (26)  Harrison Burton, Ford, 405.<\/li>\n
  35. (28)  Zane Smith #, Chevrolet, 404.<\/li>\n
  36. (21)  Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 404.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Average Speed of Race Winner:  94.076 mph.<\/p>\n

    Time of Race:  3 Hrs, 14 Mins, 41 Secs. Margin of Victory:  .269 Seconds.<\/p>\n

    Caution Flags:  5 for 54 laps.<\/p>\n

    Lead Changes:  16 among 7 drivers.<\/p>\n

    Lap Leaders:   K. Larson 0;C. Elliott 1-5;K. Larson 6-48;B. Wallace 49;K. Larson 50-150;B. Wallace 151;M. Truex Jr. 152-171;J. Berry # 172;M. Truex Jr. 173-234;J. Berry # 235;M. Truex Jr. 236-286;C. Bell 287-294;M. Truex Jr. 295-335;D. Hamlin 336-345;C. Bell 346;M. Truex Jr. 347-400;D. Hamlin 401-407.<\/p>\n

    Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Martin Truex Jr. 5 times for 228 laps; Kyle Larson 2 times for 144 laps; Denny Hamlin 2 times for 17 laps; Christopher Bell 2 times for 9 laps; Chase Elliott 1 time for 5 laps; Bubba Wallace 2 times for 2 laps; Josh Berry # 2 times for 2 laps.<\/p>\n

    Stage #1 Top Ten: 5,23,48,19,22,38,9,1,4,41<\/p>\n

    Stage #2 Top Ten: 19,4,22,5,11,20,17,23,24,45<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      By Holly Cain NASCAR Wire Service Denny Hamlin\u2019s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team gave him a clutch pit stop to emerge with the lead out of the pits and then he was able to hold the advantage on a two-lap overtime shootout to claim the Toyota Owners 400 victory Saturday night at his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":45179,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[41,16,486],"class_list":["post-45169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-denny-hamlin","tag-nascar","tag-richmond-raceway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-2128976411-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-bKx","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45169"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45187,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45169\/revisions\/45187"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}