After an epic battle for the lead down the stretch, Denny Hamlin lapped Kyle Larson on the final lap for victory Sunday at Kansas Speedway.
With just under 25 of the 267 laps remaining in the race of the NASCAR Cup Sunday, Hamlin made his way around William Byron and set his sights on frontman Kyle Larson.
With five laps to go, Hamlin went neck-and-neck with Larson for the lead, but was forced to drop back. On the final lap, Hamlin closed on Larson again at the exit of Turn 2 and hit Larson’s #5 Chevrolet on the left rear, sending Larson into the wall.
Larson was able to push on and Hamlin edged him by 1.307 seconds to claim his first win of the 2023 season.
The victory is the 49th of Hamlin’s career and ends a nearly year-long winless drought. His most recent victory came this past May in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
After throwing a celebration down the front stretch following his win, Hamlin was loudly booed by the crowd as he got out of his #11 Toyota to do his win interview with Fox Sports.
“I’m proud of the whole team. I got on top of Larson and tried to get around him and hit him in the left rear,” Hamlin said. “I’m glad at least he was able to finish.”
William Byron, who lost two laps at one point in the race, rallied to finish third, Bubba Wallace was fourth and Ross Chastain completed the top five.
Completaron el top-10 Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr., Tyler Reddick y Austin Dillon.
As Hamlin celebrated down the frontstretch, Noah Gragson grabbed Ross Chastain on pit road and began shoving him repeatedly until Chastain punched Gragson in the face.
The two were quickly separated by NASCAR officials.
See how the fight between Chastain and Gragson went
Stage 1
Hamlin passed Truex with eight of 80 laps to go and held him to 0.892 seconds to claim the Stage 1 victory. Ty Gibbs finished third, Reddick fourth and Daniel Suárez rounded out the top five.
Byron, the pole-sitter, was penalized for speeding on pit road during a round of green flag pit stops midway through the stage and dropped a lap. He hit the wall later in the stage and was forced to pit for further repairs.
Stage 2
Logano inherited the Stage 2 win when a caution was issued with two of 85 laps to go when Kyle Busch crashed on the backstretch. Michael McDowell was second, Gragson third, Erik Jones fourth, and AJ Allmendinger fifth.
During the caution for a multi-car incident on lap 148, Busch and Chastain struck each other after previous contact on the track.
Christopher Bell, who had been fighting for victory, suffered a heavy crash at Turn 2 late in the stage, ending his career.
stage 3
Several drivers pitted during the break between Stages 2 and 3, but Larson remained on track and in the lead to start the final stage.
A warning for a spin by Harrison Burton sent most of the leading cars to the pits for fuel and tire changes on lap 193, but Truex remained on track and inherited the lead position.
Larson, among those pitting on fresh tires, easily passed Truex and returned to the lead seven laps later.
Byron moved into the lead with 54 laps to go, but quickly found himself locked in a head-to-head battle with his teammate Larson, eventually reclaiming the lead.
With 30 laps to go in the race, Larson and Byron were still locked in a battle for the lead with Hamlin staying a safe distance away in third.
Hamlin caught up with Byron and took second with less than 25 laps to go and set his sights on Larson.
2023-05-07 23:23:53
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