60TH CAREER WIN FOR DENNY HAMLIN

Denny Hamlin locked himself into the championship race at Phoenix next month by winning today’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

He took his sixth win of the year, and his 60th career victory to place himself 10th in the all-time wins list.

The 400-mile race took place at Las Vegas Motor Speedway: a traditional 1.5-mile oval which saw Josh Berry take his maiden victory earlier this year.

Joe Gibbs Racing dominated qualifying, taking the top three spots in qualifying: Denny Hamlin took the pole position with Chase Briscoe alongside and Christopher Bell in third.

Briscoe passed Hamlin on the opening lap, despite the #11’s better launch. Las Vegas native, Noah Gragson, gained nine places in the opening 13 laps.

William Byron slipped past Hamlin approaching lap 29. Notably, Hamlin and Bell had lost several places as the stint progressed, showing an alarming lack of long-run pace in their JGR equipment.

Tyler Reddick was the first of the leaders to hit pit road from fifth place on lap 32.

Byron took the lead during the pit cycle when a poor pit stop from the #19 team saw Briscoe drop to fourth behind Reddick and Larson.

Elliott flew past Briscoe and Hamlin to flip the script from qualifying, putting three Hendrick Chevrolets in the top four, while the JGR Toyotas resided in fifth through seventh.

A tyre blowout for Ryan Blaney on lap 72 shook his playoff hopes as he slammed the wall in turns three and four, causing terminal damage to the #12 Penske Ford and a caution.

After a three-lap sprint from the restart, William Byron took the stage win – his eighth of the year – from Larson and Briscoe as they crossed the line in a dead heat.

Byron and Larson opened stage two with Briscoe and Hamlin on row two – Byron snapped sideways – almost taking the grass – as he slid off the nose of the #19. Perhaps it was some Las Vegas luck which kept Byron from wrecking and allowing him to counter-attack Briscoe to regain second place.

Christopher Bell from 11th was the first of the lead group to pit in stage two, aiming for an undercut to gain track position. Larson took the lead through the pit cycle, followed by Reddick and Byron.

The #9 team earned a penalty following an uncontrolled tyre during the pit stop, taking Elliott out of contention. Bubba Wallace also fell foul on pit road with a speeding penalty, evicting him from the top 10 where he had stayed all afternoon.

Last week’s winner at the Charlotte ROVAL, Shane van Gisbergen, was running in the top 10 throughout most of the race, being promoted by pit road penalties to eighth. His progression on ovals this year has been incredible and showed a commendable effort from the #88 team and Trackhouse Racing.

Larson brought home stage two, with Reddick, Byron, Hamlin and Briscoe completing the top five.

Larson led the field to green to kick off stage three of the day, fending off short-lived attacks from both Hamlin and Reddick.

Byron took the lead over the green flag pit stops, gaining two seconds on Larson with a brilliantly-executed undercut. Hamlin was last of the leaders to pit, keeping his Goodyear rubber as fresh as possible for a late attack with 50 laps to go.

Byron had a loose moment in turn two – almost crashing – which put Larson back into control of the race. Only a few corners later, Byron was involved in a scary wreck on the front stretch.

Ty Dillon while was slowing to enter pit road, and Byron had no idea as the #10 pulled down in front of him. It was a huge hit between the #24 and the #10, prompting a caution with only 30 laps to go.

Byron was out of the race, not only with huge damage to his Hendrick Chevy, but also a huge dent in his NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs run.

“I’m just devastated,” said Byron after being checked and released from the infield care centre, “It just sucks, I can’t believe it.”

Reigning champion Logano and crew chief Paul Wolfe elected to only take two tyres under the caution, promoting the #22 to the front row beside Briscoe.

Upon the restart, several cars wrecked while fighting three-abreast. Bell tagged SVG and Ty Gibbs trying to force the middle, wiping out both of them, and collecting Austin Dillon, Ross Chastain, Cody Ware and more in the wreck.

Briscoe and Logano resumed racing with 14 laps to go following an extended caution. Larson grabbed second place off Logano while Hamlin threaded the needle between Reddick and Bowman. He then flew past Logano to join Larson in the charge for the lead.

Hamlin tried the inside, the outside, and the inside again to pass Larson in his quest for win number 60 with four laps to go. It did not take long to dispose of his team-mate and he sauntered away into the lead.

Larson also passed Briscoe on the penultimate lap to wrap up second place, but it was Denny Hamlin who crossed the line first to claim victory and a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race at Phoenix next month.

He moved up to 10th in the all-time win list, tied with 2018 Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick, and more importantly locked himself into the championship four as he sought for an elusive Cup Series Championship.

“This is the point where I give the fans some shit but not today,” he said in an emotional interview post-race, “I felt like I had nothing to lose, just to punch my ticket now.”

The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs continue with the ever-dramatic Talladega fall race next Sunday.