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Joe Gibbs Racing team driver Denny Hamlin secured his first win of the season on Sunday at Toyota Owners 400 at the Richmond Raceway. The veteran driver took the lead from William Byron in the final five laps and held off Kevin Harvick by 0.552 seconds to win the season’s first shorts track event.
The venue also witnessed the Joe Gibbs Racing team’s sixth win in the last eight races and 18th overall in the team’s history at the 0.75-mile-long track.
Denny Hamlin’s 47th career win came in his hometown of Chesterfield, Virginia, which is approximately 20 miles away from Richmond. The race was fought on tire strategies and a double pit stop from the #11 Toyota Camry was enough to take the checkered flag.
Byron opted to stay out on the old tires for the last 90 laps and at one point had a strong five-second lead against other drivers. Multiple pits during the final round of the race, however, saw Hamlin and Harvick leaving the driver to secure top finishes.
Hamlin, who got the new tires with 47 laps to go, took the runner-up position from his teammate Martin Truex Jr. in the final 6 laps. His #11 Toyota continued the momentum and made it into the lead around Byron in the final five laps.
Meanwhile, Stewart-Haas Racing team driver Harvick, who also had new tires, managed to pass Byron and Truex and finished 2th, his best finish of the season.
Find out what Denny Hamlin had to say about his first win of the season
Sunday’s win was amazing for Denny Hamlin as he finished in his first top-10 this season. The win also marked his fourth Cup Series victory at Richmond Raceway. During the post-race interview, speaking about the win at Richmond Raceway, Hamlin said:
“Just drove as hard as I could, a perennial championship contender who had been ranked an uncharacteristic 20th in the standings before the Richmond race. So proud of this whole FedEx Camry team, they just never gave up. There was no doubt in my mind, maybe just a little, but they got this car right there towards the end. Wow, this is just unbelievable. We needed a data point, something, a good run to kind of balance ourselves on other tracks. Obviously, I think we got it here.”
The victory was also significant because the 41-year-old stopped a streak of 12-race victories by drivers aged 30 or below.
