DARLINGTON, S.C. — Denny Hamlin rallied on a final restart in overtime to win the Xfinity Series event at Darlington Raceway on Saturday. That will certainly help him when he starts the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs here on Sunday, right?
“No, it will not,” Hamlin said with a laugh.
Hamlin said he feels he’s in a no-win situation. “There’s only one way to go when you run these races and that’s down, when you don’t win,” said Hamlin, who passed Austin Hill on the last restart at the track “Too Tough To Tame.”
Plus, the Next Gen car Hamlin has driven to the No. 3 playoff seed this season is completely different than the lighter, more mobile machine run on the Xfinity Series.
“A couple of years ago, I felt you could learn some stuff” running an Xfinity race, he said. “But Next Gen and this car is just so different, that it’s just a race of its own.”
Hamlin will start his 17th career NASCAR Cup Series playoff run here on Sunday night in the Southern 500. He warmed up in NASCAR’s Triple-A series with his sixth Xfinity win at Darlington and the 18th of his career.
Hamlin had crossed in front in the Darlington Xfinity race in 2019, but was disqualified in post-race inspection.
He was told after that, at 42, he was oldest winner at Darlington since the late Dick Trickle won at the track when he was 56 in 1998.
“I’m certainly happy that whatever my age is, I feel I’m as good as I’ve ever been,” Hamlin said before adding he doesn’t plan to top Trickle’s distinction.
Hill was in front when the race went to a green-white-checkered finish. But Hamlin came from the high side to pass Hill in turn two and went on to a six car-length victory.
“I really didn’t want to show everything we had to the very end of the race,” Hamlin said. “It was a great win.”
Hill was second followed by John Hunter Nemechek, who leads the Xfinity Series with five victories this season.
Cole Custer and Josh Berry rounded out the top five.
Hill said he went low into turn one on the final restart that opened the way for Hamlin to take the checkered flag.
“I just need to go back to the drawing board to find out what I’m doing wrong on the restarts there,” Hill said. “It’s been frustrating.”
Hamlin was among several Cup regulars racing Saturday. Kyle Larson got as high as second during the first 90 laps before engine problems drove him to the pits where he sat with his hood up and his team tried to diagnose his problem.
Larson fell 31 laps behind and ended in 38th, last place.
All-time Xfinity Series winner Kyle Busch was also in the field and ran in the top 10 for some time. He finished ninth.
Ross Chastain was other Cup driver contending. He ended 23rd.
Xfinity ends its regular season next week at Kansas with its 12-team playoffs starting a week later at Bristol.
Results
Saturday
At Darlington Raceway
Darlington, S.C.
Lap length: 1.37 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (2) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 148 laps, 0 points.
2. (9) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 148, 49.
3. (1) John H. Nemechek, Toyota, 148, 54.
4. (4) Cole Custer, Ford, 148, 44.
5. (7) Josh Berry, Chevrolet, 148, 32.
6. (15) Riley Herbst, Ford, 148, 34.
7. (3) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 148, 43.
8. (16) Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 148, 29.
9. (14) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 148, 0.
10. (6) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 148, 32.
11. (5) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 148, 26.
12. (10) Chandler Smith, Chevrolet, 148, 31.
13. (19) Parker Retzlaff, Chevrolet, 148, 27.
14. (8) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 148, 23.
15. (17) Corey Heim, Toyota, 148, 0.
16. (22) Rajah Caruth, Chevrolet, 148, 0.
17. (11) Sammy Smith, Toyota, 148, 20.
18. (24) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 148, 19.
19. (27) Stefan Parsons, Chevrolet, 148, 18.
20. (31) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 148, 17.
21. (26) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 148, 16.
22. (33) Chad Finchum, Ford, 148, 15.
23. (21) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 148, 0.
24. (13) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 148, 13.
25. (18) Brett Moffitt, Ford, 148, 12.
26. (34) Joe Graf Jr, Ford, 148, 11.
27. (32) Matt Mills, Toyota, 148, 0.
28. (30) Kaz Grala, Toyota, 148, 9.
29. (36) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 148, 8.
30. (20) Ryan Sieg, Ford, 148, 7.
31. (28) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, 148, 6.
32. (29) Timmy Hill, Ford, 148, 0.
33. (23) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 147, 4.
34. (35) Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, 147, 3.
35. (25) Kyle Sieg, Ford, 147, 2.
36. (38) Patrick Emerling, Chevrolet, 145, 1.
37. (37) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 143, 1.
38. (12) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 117, 0.
Race Statistics
Average Speed of Race Winner: 106.504 mph.
Time of Race: 1 hour, 53 minutes, 53 seconds.
Margin of Victory: 0.657 seconds.
Caution Flags: 7 for 34 laps.
Lead Changes: 15 among 5 drivers.
Lap Leaders: J.Nemechek 0-46; K.Larson 47; A.Hill 48-49; J.Nemechek 50-92; A.Hill 93-95; J.Nemechek 96-104; A.Hill 105; P.Retzlaff 106-110; A.Hill 111-119; D.Hamlin 120; A.Hill 121-123; D.Hamlin 124-133; A.Hill 134-136; J.Nemechek 137; A.Hill 138-145; D.Hamlin 146-148
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): J.Nemechek, 4 times for 99 laps; A.Hill, 7 times for 29 laps; D.Hamlin, 3 times for 14 laps; P.Retzlaff, 1 time for 5 laps; K.Larson, 1 time for 1 lap.
Wins: J.Nemechek, 5; A.Hill, 4; J.Allgaier, 2; C.Custer, 2; S.Mayer, 2; C.Smith, 1; S.Smith, 1; J.Burton, 1; R.Truex, 1.
Top 16 in Points: 1. A.Hill, 968; 2. J.Nemechek, 945; 3. J.Allgaier, 935; 4. C.Custer, 861; 5. S.Mayer, 781; 6. J.Berry, 765; 7. S.Creed, 712; 8. D.Hemric, 711; 9. C.Smith, 706; 10. R.Herbst, 657; 11. P.Kligerman, 656; 12. S.Smith, 629; 13. J.Burton, 592; 14. B.Jones, 578; 15. B.Moffitt, 539; 16. P.Retzlaff, 483.
Cup Series qualifying
DARLINGTON, S.C. — Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell will start the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs up front after winning the pole at the Southern 500 on Saturday.
Bell took his fourth pole of the season and third in the past eight races. He turned a fast lap of 29.065 seconds (169.193 mph) at Darlington Raceway.
“It definitely feels good,” Bell said. “Darlington is a place where it’s notoriously hard to pass so being up front is good deal.”
Bell starts besides JGR teammate Denny Hamlin, second fastest on the 1.366-mile egg-shaped layout.
In all, playoff drivers took the first nine qualifying spots. Tyler Reddick was third, Ryan Blaney fourth, then Brad Keselowski, defending series champion Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Chris Buescher and Michael McDowell.
Aric Almirola, in 10th, is the first non-playoff competitor in the lineup.
The two points leaders and playoff seeds in William Byron and Martin Truex Jr. were back of the pack. Byron, with five wins this season, will start 23rd and Truex, with three victories, 31st.
The rest of the 16 playoff competitors are Kyle Busch, who’ll start 11th; Chase Briscoe, who’ll start 12th; Kyle Larson, who’ll start 18th; Bubba Wallace, who’ll start 19th; and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who’ll start 25th.
Ryan Preece, coming off a frightening crash at Daytona last week, starts 34th in the 36-car field.
Results
NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out Southern 500 Lineup
After Saturday qualifying; race Sunday
At Darlington Raceway
Darlington, S.C.
Lap length: 1.37 miles
(Car number in parentheses)
1. (20) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 169.193 mph.
2. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 169.042.
3. (45) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 168.972.
4. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 168.273.
5. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 168.227.
6. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 168.152.
7. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 168.129.
8. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford, 167.962.
9. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford, 167.893.
10. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford, 167.231.
11. (8) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 169.397.
12. (14) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 169.374.
13. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 169.019.
14. (2) Austin Cindric, Ford, 168.943.
15. (42) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 168.677.
16. (16) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 168.596.
17. (54) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 168.457.
18. (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 168.411.
19. (23) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 168.376.
20. (43) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 168.324.
21. (99) Daniel Suárez, Chevrolet, 168.204.
22. (7) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 168.112.
23. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet, 168.089.
24. (48) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 167.928.
25. (47) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Chevrolet, 167.842.
26. (77) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 167.802.
27. (1) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 167.625.
28. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 167.208.
29. (31) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 166.998.
30. (38) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 166.970.
31. (19) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 166.913.
32. (21) Harrison Burton, Ford, 166.828.
33. (15) JJ Yeley, Ford, 166.823.
34. (41) Ryan Preece, Ford, 166.281.
35. (51) Ryan Newman, Ford, 165.514.
36. (78) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, 163.980.
