Denny Hamlin Dominates Xfinity Race at Darlington

Kena Krutsinger/Getty Images

DARLINGTON, SC – RIS – Denny Hamlin was the class of the field in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway, but a fueling issue nearly cost him the victory he deserved.  Hamlin had to make his final pit stop early because his Joe Gibbs Racing team failed to get enough gas in his tank on his prior pit stop Saturday.

When teammate Daniel Suarez tried to steal the win by stretching his fuel to the finish, it briefly seemed as if Hamlin would lose a race he dominated. Instead, he ran down Suarez with three laps remaining to deny Suarez his first career victory.

Hamlin led 117 of the 147 laps to give Toyota and JGR the win. JGR drivers have won eight of the last 10 series races at Darlington, and six of the last 12 Xfinity Series races this season.

"I'm almost glad we didn't (fill the tank)," Hamlin said. "We didn't want a caution to fall and trap us there, but I scraped the wall and kind of misjudged my line one time and got a little right-side damage and the car just stopped turning. I'm not sure if my right-front would have made the distance or not."

On the fresher tires, with no concern about his damage after the pit stop, he easily chased down Suarez. It was Hamlin's third series win of the season, and all three have come from the pole.

JGR driver Kyle Busch passed Suarez for second, and Suarez finished third as the fleet of Toyotas swept the top three spots.

Suarez won a $100,000 bonus from series sponsor Xfinity and its Dash-For-Cash four-race program. Suarez also won the bonus at Bristol two weeks ago, and won it two of the three times he was eligible.

It was Suarez's first career race at Darlington.

"When my team told me we were good on fuel, they were telling me to be aggressive and save fuel," Suarez said. "It's hard to save fuel when you are on the lead. You want to go, but if I go, we run out of fuel."

Kevin Harvick finished fourth in a Chevrolet and was followed by series points leader Chris Buescher in a Ford. Buescher has a 29-point lead over Ty Dillon, who finished 15th.

Harvick thought his only shot at the win came when Chase Elliott had a late engine problem that he hoped would draw a yellow flag and give him a shot at Hamlin.

"The 9 (Chase Elliott) hit the wall and was blowing up or something," Harvick said. "We stayed out a few extra laps thinking that the caution might come out. Denny had the best car."

Unofficial Results: 33rd Annual VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200, Darlington Raceway

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Lap, TLd, LLd, BPts, Pts, Status
1) 1, Denny Hamlin(i), No. 20 Sport Clips Toyota, 147, 4, 117, , 0, Running
2) 36, Kyle Busch(i), No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, 147, , , , 0, Running
3) 2, Daniel Suarez #, No. 18 ARRIS Toyota, 147, 1, 14, 1, 42, Running
4) 9, Kevin Harvick(i), No. 88 Armour Sandwich Creations Chevrolet, 147, 3, 16, , 0, Running
5) 10, Chris Buescher, No. 60 AdvoCare Ford, 147, , , , 39, Running
6) 4, Joey Logano(i), No. 22 Hertz Ford, 147, , , , 0, Running
7) 3, Kyle Larson(i), No. 42 AccuDoc Solutions Chevrolet, 147, , , , 0, Running
8) 19, Landon Cassill, No. 01 Flex Seal Chevrolet, 147, , , , 36, Running
9) 8, Regan Smith, No. 7 TaxSlayer Bowl Chevrolet, 147, , , , 35, Running
10) 14, Ross Chastain #, No. 4 South Carolina Education Lottery Chevrolet, 147, , , , 34, Running
11) 24, Elliott Sadler, No. 1 OneMain Financial Ford, 147, , , , 33, Running
12) 12, Brian Scott, No. 2 Safeway/Sanderson Farms Chevrolet, 146, , , , 32, Running
13) 6, Brendan Gaughan, No. 62 South Point Chevrolet, 146, , , , 31, Running
14) 15, Darrell Wallace Jr. #, No. 6 Scotchman Ford, 146, , , , 30, Running
15) 13, Ty Dillon, No. 3 Yuengling Light Lager Chevrolet, 146, , , , 29, Running
16) 11, JJ Yeley, No. 28 JGL Racing Toyota, 146, , , , 28, Running
17) 18, Ryan Sieg, No. 39 Uncle Bob's Self Storage Chevrolet, 146, , , , 27, Running
18) 26, Dakoda Armstrong, No. 43 WinField Ford, 146, , , , 26, Running
19) 21, Cale Conley #, No. 14 IAVA Toyota, 146, , , , 25, Running
20) 16, Jeremy Clements, No. 51 All South Electronics Chev, 145, , , , 24, Running
21) 20, Parker Kligerman, No. 97 VroomBrands Chevrolet, 145, , , , 23, Running
22) 25, David Starr, No. 44 Zachry Toyota, 145, , , , 22, Running
23) 17, Ryan Reed, No. 16 Lilly/American Diabetes Association Ford, 145, , , , 21, Running
24) 7, Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 144, , , , 20, Running
25) 5, Paul Menard(i), No. 33 Richmond/Menards Chevrolet, 144, , , , 0, Running
26) 23, John Wes Townley(i), No. 25 Zaxby's Chevrolet, 144, , , , 0, Running
27) 22, Blake Koch, No. 8 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Toyota, 143, , , , 17, Running
28) 33, Eric McClure, No. 24 Reynolds Wrap Toyota, 142, , , , 16, Running
29) 28, Todd Bodine, No. 90 Chevrolet, 141, , , , 15, Running
30) 32, Joey Gase, No. 52 Agri Supply/DB Sales Company Chevrolet, 141, , , , 14, Running
31) 31, BJ McLeod(i), No. 13 Braille Battery/Grafoid Chevrolet, 138, , , , 0, Running
32) 30, Derrike Cope, No. 70 Sammi's Best/Wheel Chill Chevrolet, 134, , , , 12, Running
33) 35, Harrison Rhodes #, No. 0 teamjdmotosports Chevrolet, 83, , , , 11, Vibration
34) 38, Mike Harmon, No. 74 WCI Parts Dodge, 82, , , , 10, Suspension
35) 34, Morgan Shepherd, No. 89 Chevrolet, 34, , , , 9, Brakes
36) 27, TJ Bell(i), No. 26 JGL Racing Toyota, 23, , , , 0, Clutch
37) 37, Carlos Contreras, No. 15 BYB Extreme.com Chevrolet, 10, , , , 7, Accident
38) 29, Jeff Green, No. 19 TriStar Motorsports Toyota, 6, , , , 6, Suspension
39) 39, Carl Long, No. 40 Braille Battery/Grafoid Dodge, 4, , , , 5, Suspension
40) 40, Ryan Ellis(i), No. 17 Barcodemedia Ford, 1, , , , PE, Suspension

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series; # = Rookie
Fin = Finish, Str = Start, Pts = Total Points, BPs = Lap Leader Bns Pts, TLd = Times Led, LLd = Laps Led.
Average Speed: 141.355 MPH
Time of Race: 01 Hrs, 25 Mins, 14 Secs.
Margin of Victory: 2.058 Seconds
Lead Changes: 7 among 3 drivers
Cautions: 2 for 8 laps

Ron Fleshman with John Davison

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2015, Issue 8, Posted 12:39 AM, 09.06.2015