NASCAR

NASCAR Cup Series Fans Respond To Denny Hamlin Getting Help, Earning Goodyear 400 At Darlington Raceway

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By
Jeff Hawkins
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Jeff Hawkins Sports Editor

Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry, in both print and digital media. He joined the Sportscasting team in 2021 following a decade of freelancing. He spent his early career as a reporter for various newspapers in Illinois, New York, Florida, North Carolina, and Michigan, with a particular emphasis as a beat reporter for the Chicago Blackhawks. Jeff earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from Oakland University. Over the course of his career he earned several sports writing awards, including two national awards from the Associated Press Sports Editors for column writing and news reporting. One of the five prized columns included a commentary on NASCAR's increasing corporate influences, particularly in northern racetracks — commentary which you might find Jeff building on as part of the Motorsports writing team at Sportscasting now.  

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Published06 Apr 2025

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cup denny hamlin checkered flag darlington (1)

With William Byron threatening to turn Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event into a rout, a late caution created additional Darlington Raceway drama. 

A ho-hum Goodyear 400 suddenly turned interesting. 

Through two-plus stages, Byron led from the pole, often holding a multi-second advantage. Lurking among the top-10, however, Ryan Blaney made his move late, making up more than five seconds and passing front-runner Tyler Reddick.  

Blaney, seeking his first career top-five finish at the “Lady in Black,” looked to be headed for the checkered flag, until Bubba Wallace took out hard-luck Kyle Larson with four laps remaining. It was the break Denny Hamlin needed.  

While Blaney’s pit crew struggled during a stop, Hamlin’s team executed a four-tire change in 8.3 seconds, helping the No. 11 Toyota to back-to-back wins after not seeing Victory Lane in the previous 31 events.  

 Hamlin knew who to thank. 

“There are two people I love right now: the pit crew and Kyle Larson,” Hamlin told Fox Sports. “Man, the pit crew just did an amazing job. They won it last week. They won it this week. It’s all about them.” 

X (Twitter) users responded to the handy work of Hamlin’s pit crew … 

On Darlington’s annual “Throwback Weekend,” here’s a pre-race look at some of the field’s unique paint schemes … 

Making his 350th career Cup start, Blaney reached another milestone driving a “Dutch Boy” machine in honor of his father, Dave, who won a Busch Series race with that look … 

The Cup start at Darlington … 

And early-week sports-betting favorite, Larson suffered Lap 5 trouble. It was the first of two times the No. 5 Chevrolet struck a wall … 

Byron led every Stage 1 lap and held the advantage for the opening 108 laps, establishing a track record for most laps led to open any of the 128 Cup races at the “Track Too Tough To Tame” …   

Larson returned to the track, 161 laps behind Byron, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate. From the back of the pack, he would invertedly play a big role in the ending … 

Bringing out the final caution period, Wallace turned Larson aside with four laps remaining and Blaney had just passed Reddick along Turn 2 for the lead. Larson did not address the media after the race … 

Hamlin captured back-to-back Cup races for the first time since 2012 …