Hamlin Wins Darlington Overtime After Byron Dominates First 243 Laps

Denny Hamlin Speeds to win at Darlington

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(DARLINGTON, SC – 06 APR, 2025 – RIS) Denny Hamlin’s pit crew got him back on the track first in an overtime restart, with a three-wide battle behind him saw race dominating William Byron sweep into second place, followed by Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick. The win is number 56 in Hamlin’s Cup Series career. “The pit crew just did an amazing job,” said Hamlin after they earned him wins both last week and this week.

William Byron set the fastest ‘Gen 7’ qualifying speed at Darlington Saturday, earning the pole for the Goodyear 400 for the second time in his career. 

Kyle Larson spun and nosed into the inside wall in the second turn for the first caution in only the third lap of the race, bringing out the first caution, sending about half the field to the pits for new tires. Ryan Blaney slid deep in his pit stall and forced Shane Van Gisbergen into an awkward stop but also had to back up to clear SVG’s car.

Bubba Wallace gained the most positions on his fresh tires, moving up to ninth, but Byron’s lead seemed unassailable as he opened a lead of over two and a half seconds in less than ten laps.

Carson Hocevar clipped the wall and spun, bringing out a second caution on the 24th lap of the 293 scheduled rounds. Byron led almost the entire field down pit road for service, leaving the pits ahead of Ryan Preece, Kyle Busch, Austin Cindric and Chase Briscoe. Byron picked the outside lane for the restart, with Preece following him and Kyle Busch moving to the inside of the first row. 

Byron’s restart was near-flawless but JJ Yeley brushed the wall and drove to the pits with a flat right front. No caution ensued as Byron drove on to a huge gap until three Gibbs cars tried to keep him from getting around them.

Hocevar spun in front of Riley Herbst with fewer than ten laps left in the first stage, just after Byron passed Hocevar to put him two laps down. Byron, Preece, Wallace and Buescher were the first four cars off of pit road and again moved into a lead ahead of Preece, Wallace, Buescher and Reddick with Wallace taking the second position in the stage, followed by Preece, Buescher and Reddick. Byron became the first racer to lead every lap of a first stage since the start of stage racing.

Byron ran out to a gap of a half second over the rest of the field but Bubba Wallace started to close the gap before Reddick passed for second and the gap seemed to settle at about four-tenths of a second.

Green flag pit stops started to cycle through and Brad Keselowski’s right rear wheel nut came off after his stop, sending him into a half spin and causing a caution with only about a dozen cars left to stop, including Byron, who had led every lap to that point. 

Byron again led the restart, followed by Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Josh Berry. Berry’s car is a throwback replica of Jim Clark’s Indy 500 winning Lotus Ford.

Byron went on to lead every lap in the first two stages, finishing almost two seconds ahead of Joey Logano. Byron joined fellow Hendrick racer Chase Elliott as the only racers to lead every lap of the first two stages in a Cup race. Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney and Josh Berry followed Byron and Logano across the line to finish the stage.

William Byron continued to lead from the restart but Josh Berry got spun after contact with Tyler Reddick and crashed into the back straight wall, sending the No. 21 to the garage. TV announced that the president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has asked the Wood Brothers team to bring their throwback paint scheme to the Brickyard 400 later this season. “It always gets tight off of two here at Darlington and it looked like just me and the 45 got together,” Berry said later. “It’s hard to say one way or the other if he came up a little bit or I was a little too low. Obviously, you’re trying to keep it out of the fence and clear that bump and everything, so I don’t know. It’s a racing deal, I guess.”

Christopher Bell managed to challenge Byron for the restart but Byron’s momentum in the top lane allowed him to clear Bell and continue his string of lap leads. Bell made several more challenges with Byron’s top line momentum allowing him to open up a half-second lead after a few laps.

William Byron finally ceded the lead to the race when he made a green flag stop, giving Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney the lead two positions after he led the first 243 laps of the race. When Hamlin and Blaney pitted, Daniel Suarez inherited the lead followed by Logano, Bell and Byron. A few laps later had Bell and Byron get around Logano for second and third. 

Blaney, with the best long-run average of the race, moved around into the lead then Reddick slapped the wall with Kyle Larson getting spun when he lifted off the throttle and Bubba Wallace tapped him, sending him into the inside wall again before driving to the garage. All this happened with four scheduled laps left, leading to an overtime finish with 20 cars on the lead lap.

Denny Hamlin’s crew got him out first, followed by Reddick, Byron and Bell to set up the overtime finish. 

Hamlin and Byron used the outside lane on the restart with Hamlin moving out to a big lead as Byron used the outer lane momentum to capture second place ahead of Bell, Reddick and Blaney.

Unofficial Results: Goodyear 400, April 6, 2025 - Darlington Raceway
Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 3, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota, 297, , 3, 2, 10, 5, 48, Running
2) 1, William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet, 297, 1, 1, 1, 243, 2, 56, Running
3) 17, Christopher Bell, No. 20 DEWALT Outdoors Toyota, 297, , 6, , , , 39, Running
4) 7, Tyler Reddick, No. 45 McDonald's Toyota, 297, 5, 9, 1, 42, , 41, Running
5) 9, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Dutch Boy Ford, 297, 7, 4, 1, 2, , 43, Running
6) 14, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford, 297, 4, , , , , 38, Running
7) 25, Ross Chastain, No. 1 Busch Light Fishing Chevrolet, 297, , , , , , 30, Running
8) 15, Chase Elliott, No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet, 297, , , , , , 29, Running
9) 11, Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, 297, , 7, , , , 32, Running
10) 8, Kyle Busch, No. 8 Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet, 297, , , , , , 27, Running
11) 6, Austin Cindric, No. 2 Freightliner Ford, 297, 8, , , , , 29, Running
12) 16, Zane Smith, No. 38 Long John Silver's Ford, 297, 9, , , , , 27, Running
13) 18, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 297, , 2, , , , 33, Running
14) 12, Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Ruedebusch Ford, 297, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 30, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Quaker State Chevrolet, 297, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 29, Ty Dillon, No. 10 Beaver Street Fisheries Chevrolet, 297, , 8, , , , 24, Running
17) 34, Erik Jones, No. 43 AdventHealth Toyota, 297, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 22, AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Action Industries Chevrolet, 297, 10, , , , , 20, Running
19) 26, Noah Gragson, No. 4 Beef-a-Roo Ford, 297, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 36, Shane Van Gisbergen #, No. 88 WeatherTech Chevrolet, 297, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 5, Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Columbia Sportswear Company Toyota, 297, 2, , , , , 25, Running
22) 31, Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Automation Ford, 297, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 23, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Breztri Chevrolet, 297, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 21, Justin Haley, No. 7 Gainbridge Chevrolet, 297, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 28, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 SUNNYD Chevrolet, 297, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 2, Ryan Preece, No. 60 Kroger/Country Crock Ford, 297, 3, , , , , 19, Running
27) 35, Cody Ware, No. 51 Jacob Construction Ford, 297, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 4, Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, 297, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 10, Michael McDowell, No. 71 Delaware Life Chevrolet, 297, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 27, John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Dollar Tree Toyota, 297, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 37, Austin Hill*(i), No. 33 United Rentals Chevrolet, 296, , , , , , 0, Running
32) 13, Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet, 296, , , , , , 5, Running
33) 20, Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Castrol Seven Critical Areas Ford, 295, 6, , , , , 9, Running
34) 32, Riley Herbst #, No. 35 Monster Energy Toyota, 295, , , , , , 3, Running
35) 33, Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 280, , 10, , , , 3, Running
36) 24, Josh Berry, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford, 194, , 5, , , , 7, Accident
37) 19, Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 122, , , , , , 1, Suspension
38) 38, JJ Yeley*, No. 44 Wawa Chevrolet, 30, , , , , , 1, Brakes
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Race Length: 297 Laps, 405.702 Miles
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 21 Mins, 14 Secs.
Average Speed: 120.965 MPH
Margin of Victory: .597 Seconds

Fastest Lap Bonus: No. 24, lap 297, 29.387 sec

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

Comments: Denny Hamlin won the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway, his 56th NASCAR Cup Series victory.

Cautions: 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.

Unofficial Points: Goodyear 400, Darlington Raceway
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