Hamlin wins Southern 500

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