Denny Hamlin surged to the lead with five laps to go in Sunday‘s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway and held on to capture his first victory of the 2022 season.
The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota had to pass William Byron‘s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, which was on a 71-lap lead run, to secure the Toyota Owners 400 checkered flag. The victory marked Hamlin‘s fourth at the 0.75-mile track in Virginia, his home state, and his 47th overall in his NASCAR Cup Series career.
"Just great strategy there and just drove as hard as I could," Hamlin told Fox's Jamie Little after the race. "So proud of this whole FedEx Camry team. Just never giving up. I mean there was no doubt in my mind, maybe just a little, but they got this car right there towards the end and wow, just unbelievable."
Kevin Harvick ultimately pulled through to finish second by 0.552 seconds. Byron dropped to third after 122 total laps led, the second-highest mark. Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five.
Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch and Austin Dillon completed the top-10 finishing order.
Blaney‘s No. 12 Team Penske Ford led the field to green from the pole position and held the front spot all the way through until Lap 129 — the longest leading run. That included a Stage 1 win on Lap 70, marking his third stage victory of 2022. Truex Jr.‘s No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota captured Stage 2 on Lap 230, also his third stage win this year.
See the recap by Edward Sutelan at Sporting News:
Gary Gastelu from Fox News:
Check it out from motorsport.com:
Toyota Owners 400 Results:
1. Denny Hamlin
2. Kevin Harvick
3. William Byron
4. Martin Truex Jr
5. Kyle Larson
6. Christopher Bell
7. Ryan Blaney
8. Alex Bowman
9. Kyle Busch
10. Austin Dillon
11. Chase Briscoe
12. Tyler Reddick
13. Brad Keselowski
14. Chase Elliott
15. Chris Buescher
16. Daniel Suarez
17. Joey Logano
18. Harrison Burton
19. Ross Chastain
20. Austin Cindric
21. Aric Almirola
22. Cole Custer
23. Erik Jones
24. Ty Dillon
25. Todd Gilliland
26. Bubba Wallace
27. AJ Allmendinger
28. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
29. Justin Haley
30. Michael McDowell
31. Corey LaJoie
32. Landon Cassill
33. JJ Yeley
34. BJ McLeod
35. Kurt Busch
36. Cody Ware
37. Greg Biffle