Denny Hamlin, who started from pole position, initially took the lead as the green flag dropped, but his race quickly turned turbulent after he was penalized and sent to the back of the 38-car field for jumping the start, News.Az reports, citing Nascar.com.

Despite the setback, he steadily worked his way forward throughout the remainder of the 300-lap NASCAR Cup Series Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway, eventually returning to contention and ultimately taking the checkered flag on Sunday night.

The closing stages featured intense action, especially after a restart with four laps remaining.

On the final restart, teammates engaged in a back-and-forth battle that led to a dramatic three-wide fight for the win on the last lap between three Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota drivers. Hamlin ultimately delivered Toyota its first-ever victory at the 1.33-mile concrete Nashville oval, crossing the finish line in his No. 11 Toyota just 0.115 seconds ahead of teammates Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe.

Describing the decisive moments, Hamlin, 45, explained how the final laps unfolded: “The 20 [Bell] and 19 [Briscoe] were battling so hard on that first corner it just let me get to the inside of the 20 at the first corner after the restart and from there, side-by-side with the 20,” referring to the No. 20 and No. 19 cars. He added, “He [Bell] drove in so deep on that last lap into [Turn] 1 that it just allowed me to barely clear off of [Turn] 2,” before reflecting on the race, saying, “What an unbelievable day starting first, going to last and then back to first.”

For Christopher Bell, the narrow defeat marked his second consecutive runner-up finish over two weeks, leaving him both frustrated and encouraged by the performance. He had earlier recovered from a difficult moment in the race when a pit stop error dropped his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota from the top five down to 30th place for a restart just before the end of Stage 1.

Bell commented, “It was great racing, I hope the fans enjoyed that,” while also admitting, “Just disappointed in myself, disappointed for my team. We brought a great race car and I didn’t get the job done.”

The finish reflected the highly competitive nature of the race, which featured a race-record 31 lead changes among a record 15 different drivers, highlighting both strategic battles and raw team performance as essential factors in deciding the outcome.

The event had also been delayed by more than an hour due to weather conditions, but once the race finally began, it delivered continuous drama and high-intensity competition throughout.

The sold-out Nashville crowd issued a silent salute on Lap 8 to the late two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, 41, a beloved four-time Nashville winner twice each in the Craftsman Truck Series and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, who died May 21 due to severe illness.

In the laps thereafter, the intense action quickly settled in. Hamlin’s 57 laps out front were a race high, but nine different drivers led double-digit laps. Eleven caution flags affected strategy throughout the night.

Hyak Motorsports’ Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished fourth in the No. 47 Chevrolet, followed by a career-best oval effort of fifth by Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen. The popular New Zealand road-course ace turned in one of his best flag-to-flag oval performances, running among the top 10 nearly all night. His 12 laps led in the No. 97 Trackhouse Chevrolet were the most for him on an oval track.

Reigning championship leader Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing and Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott were scored sixth and seventh but were collected in an accident just after taking the checkered flag in a hard push by the field to the finish.

Last year’s race winner, Ryan Blaney, was eighth, followed by Zane Smith, whose No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford led until 12 laps to go. Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar was 10th. Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson, the reigning series champion, led 56 laps, one lap fewer than Hamlin, but finished 23rd.

The race featured two first-time stage winners on the season: Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger in Stage 1 and last week’s Charlotte race winner, Spire Motorsports’ Daniel Suárez, in Stage 2.

With his sixth-place finish, Reddick remains atop the standings, 97 points ahead of Hamlin and 174 points ahead of Blaney in third place.

The series heads north to Michigan International Speedway for next Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 (3 p.m. ET, Prime Video, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Hamlin is the defending race winner.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev