Denny Hamlin wins NASCAR Richmond Cup Race
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NASCAR: Hamlin jumps restart (cheats) to win Richmond 400 (2nd Update)

Posted by AR1 staff

In this video – Upon further review, NASCAR’s Elton Sawyer admits that Denny Hamlin cheated to win in Richmond last Sunday night. He got away with one.

Also note all the empty seats in the grandstands.

April 2, 2024 

Fans watching on television were certain Hamlin jumped the start. Fans on track thought Hamlin jumped the start. Many in the media said Hamlin jumped the start. Did Denny Hamlin jump the start?

Hamlin says yes!

Denny Hamlin went on his Actions Detrimental podcast and gleefully confessed. “I went pretty early in the zone.” Hamlin then further conceded that “I can see that on TV it looks worse than what it felt like in the car.”

Which proves, in NASCAR you can cheat to win and will always keep the win.

March 31, 2024 

Denny Hamlin stole a NASCAR Cup Series win in dramatic fashion Sunday night at Richmond Raceway in NASCAR Overtime.

With the laps ticking away in Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond, it appeared to be a foregone conclusion that Martin Truex, Jr. would be ending the night in victory lane, but in the NASCAR Cup Series, it’s never over until it’s over.

But a spin with two laps to go by Kyle Larson — sent sideways on the frontstretch by talentless Bubba Wallace — necessitated a yellow flag to send the race into overtime.

After pitting Hamlin fell from the lead to second, lining up for the overtime restart alongside his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin.

Video replays showed that Hamlin clearly accelerated before the restart line on the final restart, forcing Truex to have to play catch-up from the drop of the green flag, but NASCAR turned a blind eye and let the hometown hero keep the win.

Despite the disadvantage, Truex fought valiantly against Hamlin through Turn 1 and 2 before Hamlin pulled clear down the backstretch and into Turn 3. Truex was then left to try and fend off the cars behind him, including Joey Logano and Larson.

He would eventually fall to fourth place at the finish after he and Larson traded paint on the last lap, with Truex getting put into the outside wall after taking the checkered flag.

The win is Hamlin’s second of 2024 and 53rd of his career, his fifth at his hometown 0.75-mile tri-oval. Joey Logano was second ahead of Larson, Truex and Chase Elliott. Hamlin’s pit crew got the No. 11 Toyota out front, placing the Virginia native in position to strike in the two-lap shootout.

Larson led a next-best 144 circuits after winning the pole, leading the field to the green flag on wet-weather tires as NASCAR officials chose to utilize Goodyear’s technology to avoid a significant delay to the Easter evening special.

Christopher Bell was sixth ahead of William Byron, Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick.

Martin Truex Jr. now leads the point standings by 14 points over Kyle Larson.

The Cup Series will continue its short-track swing through Virginia with a visit to Martinsville Speedway on April 7

Denny Hamlin

Denny, you find a way to get the win. Your pit crew on the final pit stop gets you out front. You did the job from there.

DENNY HAMLIN: Yeah, pit crew… This is a team win for sure. This trophy needs to go to each one of these pit crew members. They just did an amazing job. They’ve been killing it all year.

Thanks to Mavis for coming on. Man, we got some good runs with these guys. Thanks to Jordan Brand, Coca-Cola, Shady Rays, everyone that makes this happen. Such a great feeling when you know you can come in and have a pit crew like that.

What was like running on the wet weather tires?

“That was different for sure, but this is what it was designed for. It got us back on track earlier, but I have to thank our sponsors in Mavis, FedEx, Toyota, TRD, Sport Clips, Coca-Cola, Jordan Brand, Logitech, Shady Rays – they all make it possible. It is unbelievable that we were able to run a little bit in the wet weather, and a little bit in the dry, and we ended up coming out ahead.”

Does it ever get old winning at home?

“No, no way. We have high aspirations this year, and how many wins we can get, and this is putting us right on track.”

Kyle Larson

Kyle Larson ends up third after all of that. Take us back to the moment where it looks like you were loose, spun out, salvaged the great finish.

KYLE LARSON: Well, I was a little bit loose, then I got finished off there. Thankfully it all kind of just worked out. I only lost, whatever, a spot to Bubba, then to Byron there. I was able to keep it going.

Then my pit crew did a really good job to get us off pit road, getting us to our sponsors, restart fourth and gain one more.

I will take a third after what could have been a lot worse there on the frontstretch. Proud of the HendrickCars.com team, proud of Chevy, everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. It was a good weekend for us, getting the pole, winning a stage, getting back to third at the end. Happy about that.

What happened between you and the 19 car?

KYLE LARSON: I think he was just mad. Like, he was mad that the 11 used him up on the restart. That’s probably where it really started from. Then the 22 got to his inside one and two. I got in behind the 22. He just turned left across my nose, had me up on the apron off of two.

I don’t know if he thought I just piled it in there. Then he door-slammed me down the middle of the backstretch. I figured in three and four I was going to use him up a little bit.

I think he is more mad at Denny, but I was the closest one to take his anger out on. I haven’t seen a replay either. I’m guessing the replay looks the way I kind of saw one and two, and then he’ll realize that and probably be all right.

Martin is probably the most respected guy in the garage area. So I was surprised when he turned left on me down the backstretch after the checkered.

It’s all good. I hope he doesn’t have any hard feelings to me because I definitely don’t towards him. Like I said, I got a lot of respect for him.

Martin Truex Jr.

Martin, take us through the emotional roller coaster that it was.

MARTIN TRUEX JR.: Yeah, I mean, it’s unfortunate. Unfortunately this has happened here a few times over the years.

Yeah, we were in a great spot. Had a great Auto Owners Camry all night long. The guys did a really good job. Got beat out of the pits. Got… I don’t know. He jumped the start, then just used me up in turn one, so…

Definitely sucks. But a good, solid day. Another car capable of winning. So just have to come back next week, try to get them again.

Race Results

Fin Str No. Driver Team Laps Led Status
1 11 11 Denny Hamlin Mavis Tires & Brakes Toyota 407 17 Running
2 10 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 407 0 Running
3 1 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 407 144 Running
4 7 19 Martin Truex Jr. Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota 407 228 Running
5 2 9 Chase Elliott UniFirst Chevrolet 407 5 Running
6 29 20 Christopher Bell Mobil 1 Toyota 407 9 Running
7 13 24 William Byron Liberty University Chevrolet 407 0 Running
8 23 6 Brad Keselowski BuildSubmarines.com Ford 407 0 Running
9 14 17 Chris Buescher Nexletol Ford 407 0 Running
10 19 45 Tyler Reddick SiriusXM Toyota 407 0 Running
11 30 4 Josh Berry # SunnyD Ford 407 2 Running
12 17 10 Noah Gragson Superior Essex Ford 407 0 Running
13 5 23 Bubba Wallace McDonald’s Toyota 407 2 Running
14 27 43 Erik Jones Dollar Tree Toyota 407 0 Running
15 3 1 Ross Chastain Busch Light Chevrolet 407 0 Running
16 8 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 407 0 Running
17 4 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 407 0 Running
18 32 14 Chase Briscoe HighPoint.com Ford 407 0 Running
19 12 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Duracell Ford 407 0 Running
20 15 8 Kyle Busch Rebel Bourbon Chevrolet 407 0 Running
21 6 38 Todd Gilliland FARXIGA(dapagliflozin) Ford 407 0 Running
22 20 99 Daniel Suarez Quaker State Chevrolet 407 0 Running
23 9 2 Austin Cindric Discount Tire Ford 406 0 Running
24 22 3 Austin Dillon BREZTRI Chevrolet 406 0 Running
25 18 42 John Hunter Nemechek Safeway Toyota 406 0 Running
26 31 34 Michael McDowell Long John Silver’s Ford 406 0 Running
27 25 77 Carson Hocevar # Delaware Life Chevrolet 406 0 Running
28 16 41 Ryan Preece United Rentals Ford 406 0 Running
29 33 16 Ty Dillon(i) Chevy Accessories Chevrolet 406 0 Running
30 34 31 Daniel Hemric LA Golf Chevrolet 405 0 Running
31 35 15 Kaz Grala # N29 Capital Partners Ford 405 0 Running
32 36 51 Justin Haley Walmart Health & Wellness Ford 405 0 Running
33 24 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Kroger/NOS Energy Drink Chevrolet 405 0 Running
34 26 21 Harrison Burton DEX Imaging Ford 405 0 Running
35 28 71 Zane Smith # Focused Health Chevrolet 404 0 Running
36 21 7 Corey LaJoie Gainbridge Chevrolet 404 0 Running