Hamlin wins Richmond NASCAR Cup race in wild overtime finish

Truex Jr. had dominated what ended up being a very uneventful race – leading 228 of the 407 laps – and appeared to have his first win of the 2024 season well in hand when Kyle Larson got spun out with one lap remaining and sent the race into overtime.

All of the lead lap cars elected to pit for new tires under the caution and Hamlin beat Truex off pit road to lead the way on the restart.

Hamlin got a good jump on Truex to clear for the lead as Truex raced hard with Larson and Logano through Turns 1 and 2 before Hamlin edged Logano by 0.269 seconds at the checkered flag to secure his second win of the season.

Watch: Denny Hamlin: ‘A team win for sure’ after Richmond victory

After taking the checkered flag, an apparently upset Truex rammed into Larson entering Turn 1 and then bumped Hamlin’s car from behind three times on the cool down lap.

The win is the 53rd of Hamlin’s career and the fifth at his home track of Richmond.

“I’ve had the best pit crew all year long. I loved our chances," Hamlin said about going into overtime. "We still had Martin (Truex Jr.) – he was the deserving race winner there, but you give these pit crews an opportunity – this is what it is all about. You have to have your whole team put together – and they just killed it today.

“We were close all day long. We kept the leader right there close to us, but just couldn’t quite get there. It was so excruciatingly hard to pass. It made it really difficult – even with newer tires. I needed that kind of situation in the end to be able to win it.

"We have high aspirations this year and how many wins we can get, and this is putting us right on track."

Larson ended up third, Truex fourth and Chase Elliott rounded out the top five.

Completing the top 10 were Christopher Bell, William Byron, Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick.

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Stage 1

Larson took the Stage 1 win over Wallace when a late caution came out for a spin by Daniel Suarez. Alex Bowman was third, Truex fourth and Logano rounded out the top five.

With light rain still in the area, NASCAR had teams start the race on wet weather tires, marking the first time in History that sport raced comPetitively on an oval in damp conditions.

 

During a competition caution on lap 30, NASCAR allowed teams to switch to slick tires without losing their position on the track.

Stage 2

Truex easily held off Josh Berry to take the win in an uneventful Stage 2. Logano was third, Larson fourth and Hamlin rounded out the top five.

Stage 3

Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, the lead lap cars all pit with Truex first off pit road. When the race returned to green on lap 241, Truex led Larson and Hamlin.

On lap 287, several cars, including leader Truex, kicked off a round of green flag pit stops to take on new tires and fuel and utilizing a two-stop strategy in the final stage.

The round of stops was completed on lap 295 when Bell was the last lead lap car to pit and Truex cycled back to the lead.

Bell was penalized for speeding during his stop and had to serve a pass-through penalty which left him back in 19th and one lap down.

Reddick and Chase Briscoe were among the first drivers to hit pit road with 67 laps to go and kick off a final round of green flag stops to take on new tires and fuel to make it to the end of the race.

Both Larson and Truex pit on lap 337 and Larson – who had the first pit stall thanks to winning the pole – passed Truex as the two returned to the track.

Truex, however, quickly got back around Larson and cycled back to the lead with 53 laps to go.

 

With 30 laps remaining, Logano got around Larson to move into the runner up position, but he was still almost 3.5 seconds behind Truex, the leader.

Lapped traffic helped Logano close the gap to Truex down to under a second with 10 laps to go as Hamlin closed in from third.

With one lap to go, Wallace got into the back of Larson, who spun down the track and into the frontstretch wall to bring out the caution and send the race into overtime.

All the lead lap cars pit with Hamlin the first off pit road and he led the way over Truex and Logano when the race resumed.

CLA	DRIVER	#		MANUFACTURER	LAPS	TIME	INTERVAL	PITS	POINTS
1	D. HamlinJOE GIBBS RACING	11		Toyota	407	3:14'42.116		10	46
2	J. LoganoTEAM PENSKE	22		Ford	407	+0.269 3:14'42.385	0.269	11	49
3	K. LarsonHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS	5		Chevrolet	407	+0.628 3:14'42.744	0.359	11	51
4	M. Truex JrJOE GIBBS RACING	19		Toyota	407	+0.640 3:14'42.756	0.012	11	50
5	C. ElliottHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS	9		Chevrolet	407	+0.873 3:14'42.989	0.233	11	36
6	C. BellJOE GIBBS RACING	20		Toyota	407	+1.154 3:14'43.270	0.281	12	36
7	W. ByronHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS	24		Chevrolet	407	+1.520 3:14'43.636	0.366	11	32
8	B. KeselowskiRFK RACING	6		Ford	407	+1.797 3:14'43.913	0.277	11	29
9	C. BuescherRFK RACING	17		Ford	407	+2.110 3:14'44.226	0.313	11	32
10	T. Reddick23XI RACING	45		Toyota	407	+2.114 3:14'44.230	0.004	11	28
11	J. BerrySTEWART-HAAS RACING	4		Ford	407	+2.269 3:14'44.385	0.155	11	37
12	N. GragsonSTEWART-HAAS RACING	10		Ford	407	+2.501 3:14'44.617	0.232	11	25
13	B. Wallace23XI RACING	23		Toyota	407	+2.714 3:14'44.830	0.213	11	36
14	E. JonesLEGACY MOTOR CLUB	43		Toyota	407	+2.772 3:14'44.888	0.058	11	23
15	R. ChastainTRACKHOUSE RACING	1		Chevrolet	407	+2.888 3:14'45.004	0.116	11	25
16	T. GibbsJOE GIBBS RACING	54		Toyota	407	+2.918 3:14'45.034	0.030	11	21
17	A. BowmanHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS	48		Chevrolet	407	+5.844 3:14'47.960	2.926	9	28
18	C. BriscoeSTEWART-HAAS RACING	14		Ford	407	+6.236 3:14'48.352	0.392	11	19
19	R. BlaneyTEAM PENSKE	12		Ford	407	+6.438 3:14'48.554	0.202	10	18
20	K. BuschRICHARD CHILDRESS RACING	8		Chevrolet	407	+7.410 3:14'49.526	0.972	10	17
21	T. GillilandFRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS	38		Ford	407	+7.699 3:14'49.815	0.289	9	21
22	D. SuarezTRACKHOUSE RACING	99		Chevrolet	407	+7.894 3:14'50.010	0.195	8	15
23	A. CindricTEAM PENSKE	2		Ford	406	+1 Lap 3:14'46.264	1 Lap	10	14
24	A. DillonRICHARD CHILDRESS RACING	3		Chevrolet	406	+1 Lap 3:14'48.205	1.941	9	13
25	J. NemechekLEGACY MOTOR CLUB	42		Toyota	406	+1 Lap 3:14'48.690	0.485	10	12
26	M. McDowellFRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS	34		Ford	406	+1 Lap 3:14'48.913	0.223	9	11
27	C. HocevarSPIRE MOTORSPORTS	77		Chevrolet	406	+1 Lap 3:14'49.546	0.633	10	10
28	R. PreeceSTEWART-HAAS RACING	41		Ford	406	+1 Lap 3:14'49.622	0.076	10	10
29	T. DillonKAULIG RACING	16		Chevrolet	406	+1 Lap 3:14'51.982	2.360	8
30	D. HemricKAULIG RACING	31		Chevrolet	405	+2 Laps 3:14'46.638	1 Lap	11	7
31	K. GralaRICK WARE RACING	15		Ford	405	+2 Laps 3:14'47.599	0.961	10	6
32	J. HaleyRICK WARE RACING	51		Ford	405	+2 Laps 3:14'48.832	1.233	9	5
33	R. Stenhouse JrJTG DAUGHERTY RACING	47		Chevrolet	405	+2 Laps 3:14'49.531	0.699	8	4
34	H. BurtonWOOD BROTHERS RACING	21		Ford	405	+2 Laps 3:14'49.740	0.209	9	3
35	Z. SmithSPIRE MOTORSPORTS	71		Chevrolet	404	+3 Laps 3:14'45.279	1 Lap	11	2
36	C. LajoieSPIRE MOTORSPORTS	7		Chevrolet	404	+3 Laps 3:14'50.426	5.147	10	1