In a race that battled to find a rhythm in part due to battles with the weather, Hamlin took control in the second half after he grabbed the lead from his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team-mate Ty Gibbs with 141 of 500 laps remaining.
As the race remained caution-free the rest of the way, Hamlin was not seriously challenged and cruised to a 2.437-second win over Kyle Larson, who had started dead last in the race, while Gibbs fell to fifth.
Hamlin’s third win of 2023 wasn’t straightforward. He was penalised for speeding during a pitstop under the first caution of the race, triggered when Austin Cindric and A.J. Allmendinger wrecked on the frontstretch, and had to restart from the rear of the field. Larson had suffered a similar fate for running over equipment.
After being met by a cascade of boos from the crowd, Hamlin lauded his team’s performance. He had shown himself to have a car capable of winning the first two playoff races, but the best he had come away with was runner-up last weekend at Kansas after a late caution swung the advantage in favour of Tyler Reddick.
“So happy about the way we’re running, can’t wait to keep going,” Hamlin said. “It’s our year, I just feel like we’ve got it all put together.
“We’ve got the speed every single type of race track. Nothing to stop us at this point.”
Asked if the boos were a motivating factor, Hamlin said, “Hey, I beat your favorite driver, all of ’em.”
Fellow JGR driver Christopher Bell, who won the first two stages and led the most laps (187) eventually finished third, Chris Buescher was fourth ahead of Gibbs.
Race winner Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry
Photo by: Gavin Baker / NKP / Motorsport Images
Completing the top-10 were Michael McDowell, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, William Byron and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
However, the result wasn’t enough to keep McDowell and Daytona 500 winner Stenhouse in contention for the championship with the completion of the first round of the playoffs.
The duo fail to progress to the Round of 12 along with reigning series champion Logano, who was forced into retirement after sustaining heavy damage to his left-rear corner when hit by a spinning Corey LaJoie, and the retiring Kevin Harvick after the 2014 Cup champion made contact with the wall a couple times and finished five laps down.
Martin Truex Jr. remains in title contention after he got into the wall and brought out the sixth caution of the race. He’s joined in the Round of 12 by Byron, Hamlin, Larson, Buescher, Kyle Busch, Bell, Reddick, Ross Chastain, Keselowski, Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace.