By Miguel Mike Medina
Photo Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images
Denny Hamlin goes back to back. Hamlin wins the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway.
It’s Hamlin’s fifth career win at Darlington and second consecutive year. Hamlin beat out Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron by 0.597 seconds.
Hamlin hasn’t won back-to-back races since 2012, when he won at Bristol and Atlanta the following week. It is Hamlin’s 56th career win, breaking a tie with NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace for 11th place on NASCAR’s all-time wins list.
Hamlin had this to say after his victory in Darlington.
“There’s two people I really love right now: my pit crew and Kyle Larson,” Hamlin said. “Had a little assist there, so thank you. The outgrew did an amazing job. They won it last week. They won it this week. It’s all about them.”
When Hamlin mentioned Larson during the interview, the crowd booed him. But it didn’t bother him. He kept giving his interview and remained calm. It’s a great victory for Hamlin and Joe Gibbs Racing.
Ryan Blaney finished fifth in the race. It’s his first career Top 5 finish at Darlington.
“I thought we had the race won,” Blaney said. “I don’t really know. I have to watch the replay of how that yellow came out and watch it back, but we did. We did a good job of great strategy call of running long and giving us time to get down or run down.”
The NASCAR Cup Series moves to Bristol Motor Speedway next weekend for Sunday’s Food City 500.
Miguel Mike Medina is the publisher of The MMM Journal. He can be reached at medinamiguelmike@gmail.com and themmmjournal@gmail.com
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