Denny Hamlin Wins At Richmond With A Late-Race Charge

Right after the dramatic finish to the Up coming Gen car’s highway class debut at the Circuit of the Americas, the NASCAR Cup Collection made its very first factors-shelling out trip with the new machinery to a shorter monitor, the 3-quarters of a mile Richmond Raceway. The wheel-to-wheel motion did not disappoint. Side-by-facet racing was repeated. There had been numerous 3-wides on restarts and even a 4-broad minute or two.

In qualifying, Penske’s Ryan Blaney place his Ford Mustang on the pole for the third time this season, beating Hendrick’s William Bryon. Even so, Blaney was fast to reiterate how he lacked self-confidence about the monitor. He instructed Racer, “I will say, it is absolutely not been my very best area at all. I struggled right here really poor for many years, and I still never come to feel like I’m great here at all.”

The race commenced cleanly as the front of the discipline immediately submitted down to a single line. It was only a matter of time right until the tires came up to temperature for the drivers and the action actually commenced. Even though in advance of then, the to start with caution arrived out on lap 10. 23XI’s Kurt Busch shut off his Toyota’s motor just after puttering all around the keep track of with a gas pickup concern.

The rest of the to start with phase went efficiently as Ryan Blaney led each lap of the initial stage. And, he however led for the get started of the second stage right after a round of pit stops. Blaney accelerated away nicely for the restart, but it did not go as perfectly for the driver guiding him. Hendrick’s Chase Elliott ran into slight difficulties as his tires broke traction as he took the restart from third. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch took advantage of the prospect to shoot the center gap into change just one and go Elliott three-broad.

Blaney ultimately yielded the direct to Christopher Bell when the Penske driver pitted on lap 132 underneath environmentally friendly flag conditions. Bell held on for in excess of 20 laps ahead of pitting for fresh tires. His teammate Martin Truex Jr., a single of the 1st motorists to pit, cycled into the guide. It did not acquire prolonged for Bell to uncover himself back in the fight for the lead. Truex would go on to win the phase.

In the course of the third and remaining stage, the JGR Toyotas of Bell and Truex started to fade owing to tire dress in. This was all-around when William Byron took the guide and his teammate Kyle Larson built his way towards the entrance. A third JGR Toyota entered the photograph as Denny Hamlin experienced fresher tires and was placing a 2nd for every lap into the margin up the keep track of to Byron. In the closing laps, Hamlin passed Byron for the lead, cruised to the finish and received the Toyota Sellers 400.

The NASCAR Cup Series will race again on an additional Virginia short track subsequent weekend, Martinsville Speedway.