Toyota NASCAR driver Hamlin wins in Texas despite pit penalties – NASCAR

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Denny Hamlin overcame a pair of penalties to take his second win of the season in the NASCAR Cup series’ first visit to Texas in 2019.

The Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver, who won the season-opening Daytona 500, won the second stage of the race and capitalised on a problem for team-mate and points’ leader Kyle Busch in the final stage to return to the front.

Hamlin’s day was far from easy though. During a green flag pit stop in the first stage he was judged to be too fast exiting the pits, while following his second stage win, a violation for a tyre leaving his pitbox further set him back.

However a combination of a final stage caution courtesy of Daniel Hemric, and a fast Toyota Camry allowed Hamlin to move back to the fore.

Clint Bowyer finished second behind Hamlin, with his Stewart-Haas team-mate Daniel Suarez crossing the line in third.

Suarez led nine laps, and had one of the fastest cars on track early on.

Erik Jones recovered from an early spin to lead 30 laps on his way to a fourth place finish, while polesitter Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top-five, leading a solid 61 laps and taking his best finish since May last year.

William Byron narrowly missed out on a first top-five finish, settling for sixth behind his Hendrick Motorsports team-mate. He beat the Stewart-Haas pairing of Aric Almirola, who was battling stomach flu, and Kevin Harvick.

Kurt Bush was ninth, one spot ahead of his brother, Kyle.

For much of the race it looked like Kyle Busch would win, completing a weekend sweep following his Truck series and Xfinity series wins.

The 2015 Cup series champion led a race-high 66 laps out of 334, but a pit stop on lap 279 following contact with the Turn 2 wall left him a lap down.

He eventually finished 10th, 11.6 seconds adrift of Hamlin, but on the lead lap.

While the race only had three regular cautions, it claimed a number of high-profile casualties.

Kyle Larson retired after 147 laps after contact with the wall left him with a terminal engine fire.

Penske’s Ryan Blaney was also knocked out of the race due to an engine failure. He led 45 laps before his retirement, giving him the unenviable record of leading the most laps without a win this season.

His team-mate Brad Keselowski was sidelined with a transmission issue, but returned to the track to complete 279 laps and be classified 36th out of 39 starters.

The third Penske car of Joey Logano won the first stage of the event, but fell back to 17th and a lap down in the final order.

Race result

Pos Driver Team Car Laps Gap
1 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 334 3h16m11.s
2 Clint Bowyer Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 334 2.743s
3 Daniel Suarez Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 334 21h43m49.s
4 Erik Jones Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 334 21h43m49.s
5 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 334 21h43m49.s
6 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 334 21h43m49.s
7 Aric Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 334 21h43m49.s
8 Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing Ford 334 21h43m49.s
9 Kurt Busch Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 334 21h43m49.s
10 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 334 21h43m49.s
11 Ryan Newman Roush Fenway Racing Ford 334 21h43m49.s
12 Martin Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 334 21h43m49.s
13 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 334 21h43m49.s
14 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 334 21h43m49.s
15 Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports Ford 334 21h43m49.s
16 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 333 1 Lap
17 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 333 1 Lap
18 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 333 1 Lap
19 Paul Menard Wood Brothers Racing Ford 333 1 Lap
20 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 333 1 Lap
21 Ty Dillon Germain Racing Chevrolet 332 2 Laps
22 Ryan Preece JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 332 2 Laps
23 Darrell Wallace Jr. Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet 332 2 Laps
24 Matt Tifft Front Row Motorsports Ford 332 2 Laps
25 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 331 3 Laps
26 Matt DiBenedetto Leavine Family Racing Toyota 331 3 Laps
27 Parker Kligerman Gaunt Brothers Racing Toyota 330 4 Laps
28 Corey LaJoie Go FAS Racing Ford 330 4 Laps
29 Ross Chastain Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 329 5 Laps
30 Landon Cassill StarCom Racing Chevrolet 326 8 Laps
31 B.J. McLeod Petty Ware Racing Chevrolet 325 9 Laps
32 Garrett Smithley Spire Motorsports Chevrolet 325 9 Laps
33 Daniel Hemric Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 324 10 Laps
34 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 322 12 Laps
35 Bayley Currey Rick Ware Racing Ford 320 14 Laps
36 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 279 55 Laps
37 Ryan Blaney Team Penske Ford 225 Overheating
38 Timmy Hill MBM Motorsports Toyota 168 Clutch
39 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 147 Accident



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