April 6, 2025 | By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service

Denny Hamlin goes back-to-back in NASCAR Cup Series

DARLINGTON, S.C. — A perfectly-executed overtime restart by Denny Hamlin following a clutch final pit stop by his Joe Gibbs Racing crew provided exactly the advantage the veteran needed to claim the trophy in Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

Hamlin took the race lead out of the pits during the final late race caution then bested the field on the ensuing restart, pulling his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota out front and ultimately to a .597-second victory over the day’s most dominant driver, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron.

It’s the second-consecutive victory for Hamlin, who won last week at Martinsville, Va. and marks the first time he’s won back-to-back races since 2012 when he won at Bristol, Tenn. then Atlanta the following week.

All smiles as he climbed out the car, Hamlin gave all the credit to his pit crew. He was third place at the time of the final caution – the yellow coming out for Byron’s Hendrick teammate Kyle Larson’s spin. The leaders seized the chance to pit for fresh tires in anticipation of the overtime restart and Hamlin’s crew got him out of the pits first – ahead of 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick and Byron.

A perfect launch on the ensuing green flag gave Hamlin the victory over Byron, who led a race best 243 of the 297 laps. 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.

“There’s two people I really love right now, my pit crew and Kyle Larson,’’ the 44-year-old Virginian Hamlin said with a grin. “Had a little assist there, so thank you.

“The pit crew just did an amazing job. They won it last week [at Martinsville]. They won it this week. It’s all about them.’’

It was obviously a tough ending to a career day for Byron, who rallied to the runner-up finish on the final restart but had absolutely dominated the early race, leading the opening 243 laps and claiming both Stage 1 and Stage 2 victories. It was the most laps Byron has ever led in a single race.

“First off, just really proud of my team to bring that level of effort and preparation and have a car like that and us execute like that, it was looking like we were going to have a perfect race and we were going to lead every lap,’’ the 2025 DAYTONA 500 winner Byron said.

“So, I was really proud of that. Those guys could just be aggressive on the other side of the green flag cycle and we just lost control and once we lost control it was too late to get back up there.

“It sucks and I’m sure it will sting tonight, but there are still a lot of positives. It just stings in the moment for sure.’’

Hamlin’s JGR teammate Christopher Bell finished third in the No. 20 Toyota after an amazing rally forward from a 20th place starting position. Reddick finished fourth in the 23XI Racing Toyota, co-owned by Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan.

Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney finished fifth. It is the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion’s first top-five at the 1.366-mile historic track, but the result still stings as Blaney had just taken the race lead moments before the final caution came out with only three laps of regulation remaining.

“Oh no,’’ Blaney conceded of his thoughts when the yellow flag flew.

“I thought we had the race won. I don’t really know I’ll have to watch a replay and see how the yellow came out and watch it back. But we did a great job and great strategy call of running long.

“Great call and just really fast but never got to really control the race,’’ he added … I feel like nothing really went our way. Pit road we’ve got to work on a little bit. Caution coming out during the cycle set us way back and I feel like we kept making up spots. Really proud of the 12 folks for giving me a fast car. Just wasn’t meant to be. I really would have liked to have won here. That would have been really neat. Proud of the effort and we’ll keep plugging along.’’

Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher finished sixth, followed by Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, Hendrick’s Chase Elliott, JGR’s Ty Gibbs and Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch. It was a season-best effort for Gibbs.

Byron’s runner-up showing keeps him in the NASCAR Cup Series championship lead now by 49 points over Hamlin and 52 points over Bell. It’s a different look atop the standings, where all four Hendrick Motorsports cars were ranked among the top five.

Hendrick’s Chase Elliott finished eighth Sunday and is now fourth in the standings, 59 points back. Larson dropped to sixth place after finishing 37th of the 38 cars Sunday. Bowman is now ranked 10th with a 35th place showing at Darlington.

The NASCAR Cup Series moves to the famed Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway high banks next weekend for Sunday’s Food City 500 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Hamlin is the defending winner.


NASCAR Cup Series Race Number 8
Race Results for the Goodyear 400 - Sunday, April 6, 2025
Darlington Raceway - Darlington, SC - 1.366 - Mile Paved

Total Race Length - 297 Laps - 405.702 Miles

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sunday, 4/6/2025 @ 06:45 PM Eastern

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 3 11 Denny Hamlin Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota 297  3 48 Running 2 10 5
2 1 24 William Byron Axalta Chevrolet 297 1 1 56 Running 1 243 2
3 17 20 Christopher Bell DEWALT Outdoors Toyota 297  6 39 Running  
4 7 45 Tyler Reddick McDonald's Toyota 297 5 9 41 Running 1 42
5 9 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Dutch Boy Ford 297 7 4 43 Running 1 2
6 14 17 Chris Buescher Fifth Third Bank Ford 297 4  38 Running  
7 25 1 Ross Chastain Busch Light Fishing Chevrolet 297   30 Running  
8 15 9 Chase Elliott UniFirst Chevrolet 297   29 Running  
9 11 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 297  7 32 Running  
10 8 8 Kyle Busch Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet 297   27 Running  
11 6 2 Austin Cindric Freightliner Ford 297 8  29 Running  
12 16 38 Zane Smith Long John Silver's Ford 297 9  27 Running  
13 18 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 297  2 33 Running  
14 12 34 Todd Gilliland Ruedebusch Ford 297   23 Running  
15 30 99 Daniel Suarez Quaker State Chevrolet 297   22 Running  
16 29 10 Ty Dillon Beaver Street Fisheries Chevrolet 297  8 24 Running  
17 34 43 Erik Jones AdventHealth Toyota 297   20 Running  
18 22 16 AJ Allmendinger Action Industries Chevrolet 297 10  20 Running  
19 26 4 Noah Gragson Beef-a-Roo Ford 297   18 Running  
20 36 88 Shane Van Gisbergen # WeatherTech Chevrolet 297   17 Running  
21 5 23 Bubba Wallace Columbia Sportswear Company Toyota 297 2  25 Running  
22 31 41 Cole Custer Haas Automation Ford 297   15 Running  
23 23 3 Austin Dillon Breztri Chevrolet 297   14 Running  
24 21 7 Justin Haley Gainbridge Chevrolet 297   13 Running  
25 28 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. SUNNYD Chevrolet 297   12 Running  
26 2 60 Ryan Preece Kroger/Country Crock Ford 297 3  19 Running  
27 35 51 Cody Ware Jacob Construction Ford 297   10 Running  
28 4 19 Chase Briscoe Bass Pro Shops Toyota 297   9 Running  
29 10 71 Michael McDowell Delaware Life Chevrolet 297   8 Running  
30 27 42 John Hunter Nemechek Dollar Tree Toyota 297   7 Running  
31 37 33 * Austin Hill(i) United Rentals Chevrolet 296   0 Running  
32 13 77 Carson Hocevar Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet 296   5 Running  
33 20 6 Brad Keselowski Castrol Seven Critical Areas Ford 295 6  9 Running  
34 32 35 Riley Herbst # Monster Energy Toyota 295   3 Running  
35 33 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 280  10 3 Running  
36 24 21 Josh Berry Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford 194  5 7 Accident  
37 19 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 122   1 Suspension  
38 38 44 * JJ Yeley Wawa Chevrolet 30   1 Brakes  

Fastest Lap Bonus:  # lap 297 / 29.387
24                                                                   

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 21 Mins, 14 Secs. Average Speed: 120.965 MPH Margin of Victory: .597 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 24, 23, 60, 17, 45, 6, 12, 2, 38, 16
Stage 2 Top 10: 24, 22, 11, 12, 21, 20, 54, 10, 45, 48

Race Comments: Denny Hamlin won the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway, his 56th NASCAR Cup Series victory. No cars dropped to the rear prior to the green flag to start the race.

Failed to Qualify: None.

Caution Flags: 8 for 45 laps; Laps: 5-8 (#5 incident backstretch [None]); 25-29 (#77 incident turn 3 [None]); 83-88 (#35, 77 incident frontstretch [None]); 92-98 (Stage 1 Conclusion [77]); 139-143 (Debris turn 4 [17]); 187-193 (Stage 2 Conclusion [47]); 196-201 (#21, 45 incident backstretch [35]); 291-295 (#23, 5 incident backstretch [23]).

Lead Changes: 4 among 4 drivers; W. Byron 1-243; D. Hamlin 244-247; T. Reddick 248-289; R. Blaney 290-291; D. Hamlin 292-297.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Next Race: April 13, 2025 - Bristol Motor Speedway

NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications @ P.O. Box 2875, Daytona Beach, FL 32120-2875


Points Report
Darlington Raceway
Goodyear 400

UNOFFICIAL Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sunday, 4/6/2025 @ 07:04 PM Eastern UNOFFICIAL

Rank Driver Car Starts GL Points Ldr Nxt Race Wins Stage Wins Playoff Pts

1. William Byron 24 8 0 315 0 0 1 3 8
2. Denny Hamlin 11 8 4 266 -49 49 2 2 12
3. Christopher Bell 20 8 1 263 -52 3 3 1 16
4. Chase Elliott 9 8 -1 256 -59 7 0 0 0
5. Tyler Reddick 45 8 2 254 -61 2 0 0 0
6. Kyle Larson 5 8 -4 244 -71 10 1 2 7
7. Ryan Blaney 12 8 3 236 -79 8 0 2 2
8. Bubba Wallace 23 8 0 233 -82 3 0 1 1
9. Joey Logano 22 8 0 232 -83 1 0 2 2
10. Alex Bowman 48 8 -5 227 -88 5 0 0 0
11. Chris Buescher 17 8 0 215 -100 12 0 0 0
12. Ross Chastain 1 8 1 199 -116 16 0 0 0
13. Ryan Preece 60 8 1 184 -131 15 0 1 1
14. Chase Briscoe 19 8 -2 178 -137 6 0 0 0
15. Kyle Busch 8 8 1 177 -138 1 0 0 0
16. AJ Allmendinger 16 8 2 168 -147 9 0 0 0
17. Michael McDowell 71 8 -2 167 -148 1 0 0 0
18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 47 8 2 158 -157 9 0 0 0
19. John Hunter Nemechek 42 8 -2 155 -160 3 0 0 0
20. Josh Berry 21 8 -1 154 -161 1 1 1 6
21. Austin Cindric 2 8 3 151 -164 3 0 1 1
22. Zane Smith 38 8 1 151 -164 0 0 0 0
23. Todd Gilliland 34 8 -1 148 -167 3 0 0 0
24. Daniel Suarez 99 8 -3 147 -168 1 0 0 0
25. Ty Dillon 10 8 0 141 -174 6 0 0 0
26. Ty Gibbs 54 8 5 131 -184 10 0 0 0
27. Austin Dillon 3 8 0 128 -187 3 0 0 0
28. Erik Jones 43 8 1 128 -187 0 0 0 0
29. Justin Haley 7 8 -3 127 -188 1 0 0 0
30. Carson Hocevar 77 8 -2 118 -197 9 0 0 0
31. Brad Keselowski 6 8 -1 111 -204 7 0 0 0
32. Noah Gragson 4 8 0 108 -207 3 0 0 0
33. Shane Van Gisbergen # 88 8 1 97 -218 11 0 0 0
34. Riley Herbst # 35 8 -1 92 -223 5 0 0 0
35. Cole Custer 41 8 0 77 -238 15 0 0 0
36. Cody Ware 51 8 1 44 -271 33 0 0 0
37. Jimmie Johnson  1 -1 34 -281 10 0 0 0
38. Corey Lajoie  2 0 21 -294 13 0 0 0
39. Katherine Legge  1 0 7 -308 14 0 0 0
40. * JJ Yeley 44 3 0 4 -311 3 0 0 0
41. Casey Mears  1 0 2 -313 2 0 0 0
42. Burt Myers  1 0 1 -314 1 0 0 0
43. Martin Truex, Jr.  1 0 1 -314 0 0 0 0
44. Justin Allgaier(i)  1 0 0 -315 1 0 0 0
45. Bj Mcleod(i)  1 0 0 -315 0 0 0 0
46. * Austin Hill(i) 33 1 -46 0 -315 0 0 0 0
47. Connor Zilisch(i)  1 -1 0 -315 0 0 0 0
48. Helio Castroneves  1 -1 0 -315 0 0 0 0
49. Anthony Alfredo(i)  0 -1 0 -315 0 0 0 0
50. Chandler Smith(i)  0 -1 0 -315 0 0 0 0

-Ldr/-Nxt = Points behind Leader/Next higher, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series