Hamlin wins Southern 500

The “Flying 11” of Hamlin at Darlington

Denny Hamlin has overcome a pit stop miscue to win the Southern 500 at historic Darlington Raceway in South Carolina.

Hamlin was in control ahead of the final round of pit stops when he missed the pit road entrance and came close to hitting the concrete divider. In all he lost 20 seconds in green flag running and slipped back to third behind Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr.

Hamlin put his head down and attacked; first picking-off Busch and then setting about to catch Truex.

With 15 lap fresher tyres, Hamlin cut into Truex’s lead. As other pitted and unlapped themselves, Truex lost the edge of his tyres and brushed the fence with three laps to run. Then halfway through the next lap Hamlin got by as a puncture ended Truex’s hopes.

“I drove my ass off, that’s as hard as I can drive,” said Hamlin.

“I love this race track. This is the Southern 500; it doesn’t get much better than this.”

It was Hamlin’s second win at Darlington and like in 2010 he also took the weekend double with Xfinity race as well.

NASCAR’s throwback weekend was another huge success, with a range of paint schemes celebrating the heroes of yesteryear. Hamlin’s car ran the “Flying 11” of modified hero Ray Hendrick who was a legend of short tracks such as Martinsville.

Truex Jr. did score both victories in Stage 1 and 2, and in the process, will take a 15-point advantage into each of the play-off segments of the Chase for the Cup.

Next week the series heads to Richmond; the last race before the Chase and the final opportunity to make the final 16 drivers eligible to win the title.

VIDEO: Race recap

VIDEO: Hamlin speaks after the race

RESULTS: Bojangle’s Southern 500 – Darlington Raceway

Cla # Driver Make Laps Laps Led Points
1 11  Denny Hamlin Toyota 367 124 57
2 18  Kyle Busch Toyota 367 6 43
3 41  Kurt Busch Ford 367 7 38
4 3  Austin Dillon Chevrolet 367 36
5 77  Erik Jones Toyota 367 37
6 20  Matt Kenseth Toyota 367 32
7 31  Ryan Newman Chevrolet 367 30
8 78  Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 367 76 49
9 4  Kevin Harvick Ford 366 22 43
10 1  Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 366 34
11 24  Chase Elliott Chevrolet 366 26
12 48  Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 366 25
13 13  Ty Dillon Chevrolet 366 24
14 42  Kyle Larson Chevrolet 366 124 39
15 2  Brad Keselowski Ford 366 3 33
16 27  Paul Menard Chevrolet 366 21
17 37  Chris Buescher Chevrolet 366 20
18 22  Joey Logano Ford 366 22
19 95  Michael McDowell Chevrolet 365 18
20 43  Aric Almirola Ford 365 17
21 34  Landon Cassill Ford 365 5 16
22 88  Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 365 15
23 72  Cole Whitt Chevrolet 364 14
24 5  Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 364 13
25 38  David Ragan Ford 363 12
26 10  Danica Patrick Ford 363 11
27 32  Matt DiBenedetto Ford 362 10
28 23  Corey Lajoie Toyota 360 9
29 17  Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 358 8
30 33  Jeffrey Earnhardt Chevrolet 356 7
31 21  Ryan Blaney Ford 356 6
32 55  Derrike Cope Toyota 351 5
33 66  Carl Long Chevrolet 350
34 47  A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 340 3
35 6  Trevor Bayne Ford 336 2
36 83  Gray Gaulding Toyota 202 1
37 51  Cody Ware Chevrolet 144 1
38 19  Daniel Suarez Toyota 125 1
39 15  Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 104 1
40 14  Clint Bowyer Ford 18 1

STANDINGS

Pos
Driver
Pts
Behind
Wins
Starts
Top 5’s
Top 10’s
Poles
1
Martin Truex Jr.
1,000
Leader
4
25
10
17
1
2
Kyle Busch
893
-107
2
25
10
15
6
3
Kyle Larson
884
-116
3
25
10
14
3
4
Kevin Harvick
867
-133
1
25
8
16
4
5
Denny Hamlin
810
-190
2
25
10
14
0
6
Brad Keselowski
761
-239
2
25
11
14
2
7
Chase Elliott
737
-263
0
25
6
13
1
8
Matt Kenseth
735
-265
0
25
7
12
1
9
Jamie McMurray
734
-266
0
25
2
13
0
10
Jimmie Johnson
653
-347
3
25
3
7
0
11
Clint Bowyer
643
-357
0
25
5
10
0
12
Ryan Blaney
629
-371
1
25
3
9
1
13
Kurt Busch
624
-376
1
25
4
12
0
14
Erik Jones
611
-389
0
25
4
10
1
15
Joey Logano
605
-395
1
25
8
11
1
16
Ryan Newman
604
-396
1
25
5
10
0
17
Daniel Suarez
538
-462
0
25
1
8
0
18
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
536
-464
2
25
4
7
1
19
Austin Dillon
473
-527
1
25
3
4
0
20
Trevor Bayne
472
-528
0
25
1
4
0
21
Kasey Kahne
464
-536
1
25
3
4
0
22
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
431
-569
0
25
1
4
1
23
Paul Menard
429
-571
0
25
2
3
0
24
Ty Dillon
419
-581
0
25
0
0
0
25
Chris Buescher
407
-593
0
25
0
3
0
26
Michael McDowell
396
-604
0
25
1
1
0
27
AJ Allmendinger
384
-616
0
25
1
5
0
28
Danica Patrick
363
-637
0
25
0
1
0
29
David Ragan
315
-685
0
25
0
2
0
30
Aric Almirola
285
-715
0
18
2
3
0
31
Matt DiBenedetto
274
-726
0
25
0
2
0
32
Landon Cassill
257
-743
0
25
0
0
0
33
Cole Whitt
255
-745
0
25
0
0
0
34
Corey LaJoie
171
-829
0
22
0
0
0
35
Gray Gaulding
112
-888
0
19
0
0
0
36
Jeffrey Earnhardt
100
-900
0
23
0
0
0
37
Reed Sorenson
97
-903
0
19
0
0
0
38
Derrike Cope
35
-965
0
12
0
0
0
39
Michael Waltrip
29
-971
0
1
0
1
0
40
Billy Johnson
15
-985
0
1
0
0
0
41
Boris Said
15
-985
0
2
0
0
0
42
Gary Klutt
6
-994
0
1
0
0
0
43
Alon Day
5
-995
0
1
0
0
0
44
Stephen Leicht
5
-995
0
1
0
0
0
45
Cody Ware
5
-995
0
4
0
0
0
46
Kevin O’Connell
4
-996
0
1
0
0
0
47
Tommy Regan
3
-997
0
1
0
0
0
48
D.J. Kennington
2
-998
0
2
0
0
0
49
Brendan Gaughan
0
-1,000
0
3
0
1
0
50
Darrell Wallace Jr.
0
-1,000
0
4
0
0
0
51
Timmy Hill
0
-1,000
0
12
0
0
0
52
Elliott Sadler
0
-1,000
0
3
0
0
0
53
Ross Chastain
0
-1,000
0
1
0
0
0
54
Joey Gase
0
-1,000
0
5
0
0
0
55
Regan Smith
0
-1,000
0
2
0
0
0
56
JJ Yeley
0
-1,000
0
4
0
0
0
57
Ryan Sieg
0
-1,000
0
5
0
0
0
58
Carl Long
0
-1,000
0
2
0
0
0
59
B.J. McLeod
0
-1,000
0
4
0
0
0
60
Brett Moffitt
0
-1,000
0
2
0
0
0
61
Josh Bilicki
0
-1,000
0
2
0
0
0

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