Hamlin Chases Down Byron To Grab Richmond Victory

Denny Hamlin pounced late on fresher tires and scored the victory in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway.

Hamlin ran down leader William Byron on older tires to make the final pass for the lead with just five laps to go.

From there, he held off another hard charger in veteran Kevin Harvick to record his first win of 2022, and the first win for the Next Gen Toyota Camry.

“I just rely on the crew chief (Chris Gabehart) and his information to me says we are going to be racing this guy and this guy,” said Hamlin. “As long as you run this pace and do everything you can in traffic, you’ve got a great shot to win. I don’t pay attention to where we were or anything. He told me where the leaders were. I just drove the car as smooth as I could.”

It marks the 47th career victory for Hamlin, and his fourth career win at his “home track”, as he hails from Chesterfield, Virginia.

“I love it. I love this track and the techniques that it takes to get around here,” Hamlin said. “I watched some of the greatest short track racers in the world at Southside Speedway and Langley. I’ve learned so much from those guys watching from the stands. When I finally got the opportunity to apply it for myself, I did.”

The win also gives Joe Gibbs Racing its first win of the 2022 season.

“It was just a matter of time,” Hamlin said “We weren’t just going to hang back where we were, but everyone worked so hard on my JGR Toyota Camry team.”

Byron had played pit strategy by staying on the track 13 laps longer than the competition on the last round of green flag stops, leaving him in the lead when those stops all cycled out.

That had him in front of the field over the final 40 laps, while Martin Truex, Jr. tried to close.

Behind both of them was Hamlin, who was on the charge on fresher tires. He moved to third with 10 laps to go, and then bypassed his teammate, Truex, Jr., with five circuits remaining.

One lap later, he moved around Byron for the lead,

Over the closing laps Harvick moved his way to second, and with two laps to go, looked to possibly be in position to challenge Hamlin for the win as the duo raced in lapped traffic.

But Hamlin had the edge, and held on to score the win.

Harvick came home in second, his best result of the 2022 season thus far.

“Yeah, I’m just really proud of everyone on our Mobil 1 Ford Mustang for just staying in there and having a great strategy and doing everything that they did all day,” Harvick said. “It was really the first clean day that we’ve had all year. The cars have been fast and had a shot there at the end. I wanted to be close enough with the white to just take a swipe at him, but the lapped cars kind of got in the way and I lost a little bit of ground. Still, it’s a great day for us and hopefully a little bit of momentum in a positive direction.”

Byron came home in third after just missing on the strategy call.

“Thought we probably did the best job we could. It didn’t quite work out,” said Byron. “I thought there at the end they told me I was just racing the 19. I’m like ok I got him, but then the 4 (Harvick) and the 11 (Hamlin) were on a totally different planet. That’s just part of it.”

Truex, Jr. won the second segment of the race, and looked to be in the catbird seat on fresher tires. In the end, he had to settle for a fourth place finish.

“It’s frustrating, but it’s part of it. It’s part of the whole day,” Truex, Jr. said. “We did good there for a while. James (Small, crew chief) did a great job all day with the strategy – getting us up-front, getting us the lead. Our Auto-Owners Camry TRD was super-fast out front. Super-fast in clean air.”

Defending series champion Kyle Larson finished in fifth.

Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, and Austin Dillon rounded out the top 10.

Dawsonville, Georgia’s Chase Elliott raced inside the top 10 for most of the day, but finished up in 14th.

NASCAR Cup Series
Richmond Raceway – Richmond, VA
Toyota Owners 400 – April 3, 2022

1. (13) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 400.
2. (7) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 400.
3. (2) William Byron, Chevrolet, 400.
4. (6) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 400.
5. (21) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 400.
6. (9) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 400.
7. (1) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 400.
8. (28) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 400.
9. (3) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 400.
10. (25) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 400.
11. (4) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 400.
12. (16) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 400.
13. (19) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 400.
14. (15) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 400.
15. (18) Chris Buescher, Ford, 400.
16. (14) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 400.
17. (11) Joey Logano, Ford, 399.
18. (17) Harrison Burton #, Ford, 399.
19. (8) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 399.
20. (20) Austin Cindric #, Ford, 399.
21. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford, 398.
22. (12) Cole Custer, Ford, 398.
23. (5) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 398.
24. (30) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 398.
25. (22) Todd Gilliland #, Ford, 397.
26. (29) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 397.
27. (26) A.J. Allmendinger(i), Chevrolet, 396.
28. (32) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Chevrolet, 396.
29. (36) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 396.
30. (24) Michael McDowell, Ford, 395.
31. (31) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 392.
32. (23) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 390.
33. (35) J.J. Yeley(i), Ford, 390.
34. (34) B.J. McLeod, Ford, 386.
35. (27) Kurt Busch, Toyota, 291.
36. (33) Cody Ware, Ford, Accident, 241.
37. (37) Greg Biffle, Chevrolet, Suspension, 96.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 97.447 mph.

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 4 Mins, 43 Secs. Margin of Victory: .552 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 5 for 35 laps.

Lead Changes: 13 among 7 drivers.

Lap Leaders: R. Blaney 1-128;C. Bell 129-154;M. Truex Jr. 155-175;J. Logano 176;C. Bell 177-211;M. Truex Jr. 212-233;C. Bell 234;M. Truex Jr. 235-258;C. Bell 259;W. Byron 260-310;M. Truex Jr. 311-323;K. Busch 324;W. Byron 325-395;D. Hamlin 396-400.

Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) Ryan Blaney 1 time for 128 laps; William Byron 2 times for 122 laps; Martin Truex Jr. 4 times for 80 laps; Christopher Bell 4 times for 63 laps; Denny Hamlin 1 time for 5 laps; Joey Logano 1 time for 1 lap; Kyle Busch 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 12,24,1,19,18,9,20,22,6,4

Stage #2 Top Ten: 19,20,1,22,12,9,4,18,5,6

Playoff Standings: 1. William Byron – 218 (1 Win); 2. Ross Chastain – 214 (1 Win); 3. Alex Bowman – 212 (1 Win); 4. Chase Briscoe – 192 (1 Win); 5. Kyle Larson – 183 (1 Win); 6. Austin Cindric – 170 (1 Win); 7. Denny Hamlin – 148 (1 Win); 8. Ryan Blaney – 241; 9. Chase Elliott – 241; 10. Martin Truex, Jr. – 222; 11. Joey Logano – 215; 12. Kevin Harvick – 193; 13. Kyle Busch – 191; 14. Aric Almirola – 184; 15. Tyler Reddick – 183; 16. Daniel Suarez – 171.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series