NASCAR race at Richmond results and takeaways: Denny Hamlin takes lead late to win

Denny Hamlin won NASCAR’s race at Richmond for his fourth win at his hometown track and 47th Cup career victory.

He made a pass for the lead in the final five laps of the race, battling side-by-side with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr., as the two tracked down Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron, who was running on older tires and trying to defend the lead. Hamlin then had to stay ahead of veteran Kevin Harvick to take the trophy.

This is the first victory of the 2022 season for Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing. Kevin Harvick finished in second place, 0.552 seconds behind Hamlin; Byron was third.

“There was no doubt in my mind,” Hamlin said on Fox. “Maybe just a little, but (my team) got this car right there towards the end. Wow, unbelievable.”

Here’s what we learned at Richmond.

Strategy, tires trump all

Hamlin’s No. 11 team was among those that pitted later in the race a second time in the final stage, while William Byron’s No. 24 team stayed out on older tires and tried to defend for the win. Byron put up an impressive fight. He was able to lead 71 laps after re-taking the lead on Lap 325 of 400, but the Toyota fleet of Hamlin and Truex made up ground too quickly with 10 laps to go.

“If he gets us, he gets us,” Byron’s radio said with Hamlin in his mirror.

Fresh tires overpowered the No. 24, as Kevin Harvick entered the conversation with a fast Ford. He passed Byron and Truex, then raced Hamlin coming to the line.

“First clean day we’ve had all year,” Harvick said on Fox. “Cars have been fast. Had a shot there at the end. I wanted to be close enough with the white to just take a swipe at him. The lapped cars there kind of got in the way and I lost a little bit of ground.”

Hamlin credited his team’s strategy for the victory, while Truex, typically a dominant performer at the 0.75-mile Virginia track, called his team’s late pit strategy a “gamble on beating the 24” after winning the second stage.

“He ended up trying to do our strategy, which we both screwed up,” Truex said. “Obviously, heads up the other way, I think we had the best car.”

Truex still noted that the performance was a “step in the right direction from Phoenix.”

“Completely different mindset coming here after today (on) what we can do going forward. Excited about that,” he said.

Big win for JGR

Not only was it Hamlin’s first win of the season, but it was the first victory for Joe Gibbs Racing this year, which will need two more to tie with dominant Hendrick Motorsports.

Christopher Bell (P6) and Kyle Busch (P9) also finished in the top 10, with Bell leading 63 laps. Busch looked like he could’ve been a late contender if not for a piece of tape on the grille of his No. 18 Toyota that NASCAR spotted late in the race. Busch was black-flagged with fewer than 50 laps to go while running in the top 10.

JGR team owner Joe Gibbs said that the late call from NASCAR to spot and penalize the tape influenced the team’s pit strategy and that they would bring it up with the sanctioning body after the race.

Fortunately for Busch, the call was still in a pit window, so it wasn’t totally detrimental to their chances, but it still hurt Busch on positions as he fell to 14th, then had to fight through traffic and lapped cars to re-gain his spots.

Largely, however, Gibbs teams looked more competitive this race, which was at a track where they’ve historically run well. Busch’s No. 18 team set a new record for the fastest four-tire pit stop in NASCAR history, clocking a time of 9.19 seconds.

Prior to Sunday, Truex won three of the last five races at Richmond and was considered an early favorite. But it was Hamlin, who finished second at Richmond in the last two events there before Sunday, that walked away with a first win of the season.

“We needed a data point, something, a good run to kind of balance ourselves on other tracks,” Hamlin said on Fox. “Obviously, I think we got it here.”

Blaney leads laps, but doesn’t close it

Stage 1 winner Ryan Blaney has won three poles this season and has led 334 laps this year. He’s now tied with Chase Elliott for first in the points standings (both at 241 points, followed by Martin Truex Jr. at 222 points). But Blaney is still searching for his first win this year.

An abrupt call to pit around Lap 324 while running in the top three sent him down to 12th. He was able to race back up to fourth with fresh tires coming to the final 10 laps of the race, but he still finished out of the top five after leading a race-high 128 laps.

Harvick and Blaney were the only two drivers representing Ford to finish in the top 10 at the first short track race of the season.

NASCAR heads to Martinsville next week for more short-track racing, where Gibbs Toyotas and Hendrick Chevrolets have been strong, but it feels like just a matter of time before Blaney breaks through for his first win this year.

NASCAR race results at Richmond

NASCAR race updates

Stage 3

CHECKERED FLAG: Denny Hamlin made a late pass of Truex and Byron to win the race; Kevin Harvick finished second. Full results and analysis will be posted shortly.

6:48 p.m., Lap 392: William Byron is losing his lead with Martin Truex Jr. on his tail and Denny Hamlin behind him. “Total focus” and “Paint the line” Byron’s radio is reminding him. “You can only defend what you can defend.”

6:38 p.m., Lap 369: The running order is William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin. Byron still hasn’t pitted in this window, and it looks like the team is looking to stay out and possibly catch a late caution. “Take that line, good and straight. Don’t slip ‘em,” Byron is told.

6:35 p.m., Lap 358: The No. 18 radio explains that 200 laps ago, they missed where they put tape on and it got on the grille. “(NASCAR) just saw it and black flagged us,” the radio says. The good news for the 18 team is that it seems to be in the pit window, with Christopher Bell and others pitting right after Busch. It might not be as devastating a penalty. Busch has been radio-silent while running in 14th.

6:29 p.m., Lap 347: William Byron has a four-second lead over Denny Hamlin. Brad Keselowski pits. Kyle Busch is being black-flagged for unapproved tape on the grille on his No. 18 Toyota. He’ll have to pit, and is told, “No mistakes here, don’t overshoot it.”

6:25 p.m., Lap 335: Martin Truex Jr. and the No. 19 team flips pit strategies for this stage compared to the previous stage. Right now, the running order is William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Christopher Bell and Martin Truex Jr. He’s about 10 seconds back from Byron.

6:21 p.m., Lap 324: Ryan Blaney abruptly pits, and it’s unclear whether it was planned, but it doesn’t sound like he has an issue on his radio. We’ll see how this strategy works out for Blaney. He was running in the top three. Now, he’s in 12th, while William Byron and Denny Hamlin are the top two. Byron will likely pit again.

6:14 p.m., Lap 309: Austin Dillon, Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin all pit, as well as Aric Almirola and AJ Allmendinger. Pit road is getting busier as green flag pit cycles start up. Ryan Blaney’s team will split the stage evenly. He pits as Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch stay out. William Byron pits just before Blaney.

6:10 p.m., Lap 299: Chris Buescher pits during the green flag cycle. He’s on the early side of pitting, and others could follow. That might be what the team is hoping for, that they are able to gain spots that way if others follow.

6:07 p.m., Lap 292: Denny Hamlin’s team is sounding confident on the radio, with the team reporting that he’s run a fastest lap so far. He’s hovering in third behind William Byron and Martin Truex Jr. William Byron continues to lead, but we’ll see how much longer his tires can hold on. Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney and Kevin Harvick are also in the top 10 and could be likely Richmond race winners.

6 p.m., Lap 274: William Byron is on tires that are just 11 laps older and so far, he’s able to fend off Martin Truex Jr., who’s just 0.3 seconds behind him. But Daniel Suarez and Austin Dillon haven’t fared as well, dropping to eighth and ninth, respectively, on the older tires. The running order is Byron, Truex, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney.

5:55 p.m., Lap 263: William Byron, Daniel Suarez and Austin Dillon stayed out at the caution and restart up front. Martin Truex Jr. is next after pitting. Joey Logano’s team struggled to jack the car up (the jack locked up, so they couldn’t get the car off) and makes a long stop. “Be ready to fight,” Logano’s No. 22 Ford radio says. He lines up in the 10th row. “Long ways to go,” he’s told.

5:49 p.m., Lap 258: “I’m plowing. It was too tight,” Ross Chastain says on his team radio after an agressive restart. His team tells him to make the tires live. Then another caution comes out, this time for Austin Cindric spinning. Cindric is told that Ty Dillon drove into Cole Custer, who hit Cindric. Chastain’s radio says that that he’ll pit when it opens.

5:41 p.m., Lap 242: Martin Truex Jr. leads the field to green from the inside land with Ross Chastain lined up behind him. Christopher Bell was outside Truex and Joey Logano outside Bell. The race restarts, but a few laps into the stage, the caution comes out for Cody Ware, who had contact with Erik Jones, sending Ware into Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and then the wall.

Stage 2

5:34 p.m., Lap 230: Martin Truex Jr. wins the stage with Christopher Bell behind them. Those two ran different strategies, with Truex making two stops and Bell making one stop. Ross Chastain, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowski finish in the top 10 for points.

5:28 p.m., Lap 225: Martin Truex Jr. and co. has put together a strong race and strategy so far, leading by about two seconds in the final laps of the second stage. He’s won three of the last five races at Richmond, and finished in second and fifth in the ones he didn’t win.

5:22 p.m., Lap 212: Martin Truex Jr. leads Christopher Bell now. He’s made his pass with Bell in traffic. They’re followed by Ross Chastain, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano.

5:17 p.m., Lap 192: Ross Chastain and Ryan Blaney are getting feisty, with Blaney moving Chastain’s car up the track. Chastain then gives Blaney a bump and makes his pass. The running order is Christopher Bell, Martin Truex, Denny Hamlin, Ross Chastain, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott and Joey Logano.

5:09 p.m., Lap 178: Cars on the split-stop strategy are pitting, including Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. while JGR driver Christopher Bell cycles back to the lead, followed by William Byron and Denny Hamlin. Truex is 17 seconds behind the leader and aiming to catch up in the final 50 laps of the stage.

5:06 p.m., Lap 172: Kyle Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing pit crew performed a 9.19 sec four-tire pit stop on their last stop, according to the team. That makes it the fastest four-tire stop in NASCAR history. Busch is in ninth behind teammate Martin Truex Jr. in eighth.

5 p.m., Lap 157: Martin Truex Jr. moves to the lead as the race frontrunners, Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin, pit under the green flag. Ryan Blaney is in second place followed by Kyle Busch.

4:58 p.m., Lap 152: The Joe Gibbs Racing cars are leading in the top five, but Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin still need to pit. Hamlin is taking all four tires.

4:52 p.m., Lap 137: The top six drivers, led by Toyota drivers Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin, have not yet pitted as the others, including Ryan Blaney, fall away for pit stops. Kyle Busch reports that he had an issue shifting gears while getting in and out of his pit stall. Hamlin is still out on the track and told to “baby it around the racetrack.” Blaney has sliced up to fourth behind Martin Truex Jr., who will likely cycle back as the leader.

4:47 p.m., Lap 127: Green flag pit stops are underway, with the Fords largely pitting first. Denny Hamlin is told that they’ll run a split strategy and will run another 25 laps or so before pitting. We’ll see if this pays off. This track is notoriously tough on tires, and drivers can feel the fall-off.

4:44 p.m., Lap 120: Denny Hamlin is sitting in 12th and says that his car is driving a little bit better, but he’s struggling to get out of traffic. Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell and Ross Chastain lead the race in the top three.

4:38 p.m., Lap 104: Christopher Bell takes second place from Ross Chastain, and the manufacturer running order is now Ford (Ryan Blaney), Toyota (Bell) and Chastain (Chevy).

4:30 p.m., Lap 90: Ryan Blaney is dominating this race so far, but there’s movement in the top five after pit stops, with Christopher Bell jumping up to third. Ross Chastain runs in second. Martin Truex Jr. and Chase Elliott battle in fifth and sixth, respectively, behind Kyle Busch.

Stage 1

4:20 p.m., Lap 70: Ryan Blaney scores his third stage win of the season, leading all laps in the opening stage at Richmond after starting on the pole. He’s followed by Willian Byron, Ross Chastain, Martin Truex, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick.

4:12 p.m., Lap 50: Kevin Harvick’s radio is reporting frequency issues. The team is having trouble hearing each other on the scanner. Spotter Tim Fedewa says that this is an issue that has happened before. They’re trying to switch channels, but the issue seems unresolved.

4:07 p.m., Lap 42: Ryan Blaney has led all laps so far. Michael McDowell made a green flag pit stop earlier for tires and is sitting in 35th. Chase Elliott and Chase Briscoe also exchanged some door-to-door contact as they raced in the top 20.

3:57 p.m., Lap 17: Ryan Blaney fires off at the restart to hold the leads followed by William Byron. Last weekend’s race winner Ross Chastain also gets a good jump and runs in the top four, beating Kyle Busch into the first two corners, but Busch gets the spot, then works his way by Byron for second.

3:52 pm., Lap 10: Kurt Busch brings out the first caution of the day for his No. 45 Toyota slow on track. Busch is reporting a fuel issue and is getting pushed back to pit road. A few cars pit at the flag, including Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson and Ty Dillon. Busch’s team then says that they’re going to take the car to the garage to replace the fuel pump as they try to diagnose the problem. This is Busch’s second early issue at Richmond in the last two races at the track, as last fall, he blew a tire in the first 50 laps.

3:50 p.m., Lap 4: Ryan Blaney leads from the inside lane, and the order in the top four is the same as the starting order with Martin Truex Jr. gaining a position and moving into fifth by Erik Jones. This is the first short track race of the season and Truex is known to be dominant at this track, in addition to other Joe Gibbs Racing drivers.

Pre-race

Defensive end for the NFL’s Washington Commanders Chase Young is on the grid today as a guest of No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott, who mentions on FOX that they’re both “part of the A Shoc team.” A Shoc is an energy drink company that is partnered with both Elliott and more recently, Young, who’s sporting a No. 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. jacket. Earnhardt Jr. is an outspoken Washington football fan.

Cindric, Haley, Biffle to the rear

Three cars will drop to the rear for today’s race. Austin Cindric’s No. 2 is among those for unapproved adjustments. He was slated to start 20th. Additionally, the No. 31 driven by Justin Haley and the No. 44 driven by Greg Biffle will drop to the rear for multiple inspection failures. They were slated to start last, in 36th and 37th, respectively, but they must also serve a pass-through penalty after the green flag for three inspection failures. The green flag is set to wave at 3:45 p.m.

er

This story was originally published April 3, 2022 at 2:31 PM.

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription