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Denny Hamlin burns out after winning the NASCAR Nationwide Series Lipton Tea 250 at Richmond International Raceway. (Jerry Markland/Getty Images Photo) ยป More Photos
Hometown hero Denny Hamlin won his first NASCAR Nationwide race at Richmond International Raceway Friday night, capturing the Lipton 250 thanks to a late-race decision to pit for fresh rubber when leaders Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards stayed out.
Hamlin, from nearby Chesterfield, Va., took tires on his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota following a caution on Lap 229, came out in fourth place and quickly drove to victory, surviving a green-white-checkered finish to win.
“I always said circumstance were going to have to go our way for us to get a win here,” said Hamlin, who won for the sixth time in his Nationwide career. “It seems like we never win whether we have the best car or the worst car.”
“We didn’t have a chance of winning if we didn’t pit,” said Hamlin’s crew chief, Dave Rogers.
Harvick finished second in his KHI Chevrolet, followed by the Braun Racing Toyota of Kyle Busch, David Ragan and Steve Wallace.
The race can be summed up succinctly: Edwards dominated the first half in his Roush Fenway Racing Ford, Harvick the second. But tires were the difference at the end.
Kasey Kahne led from the pole, taking Edwards with him as the two were more than 2 seconds ahead of the rest of the field by the completion of the first 10 laps. Behind them, Harvick, Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer were locked into a battle for third.
Edwards took the lead for the first time on Lap 18, by which time he and Kahne were up by 2.75 seconds over the third-place Harvick.
By the 50-lap mark, Edwards led by 2.089 seconds. Harvick had worked his way to second place, about 1.6 seconds ahead of Kahne, Hamlin and Boyer.
The first caution came at Lap 67, when Brett Rowe spun out coming off of Turn 4, although he managed to keep it off the wall. The caution benefitted both Marcos Ambrose, who got the Lucky Dog, and Kyle Busch narrowly avoided going a lap down himself.
Edwards easily held the lead on the round of four-tire pit stops, emerging ahead of Harvick, Hamlin, Kahne and Ragan. The track went green on Lap 74.
After a second caution from Lap 80 to 85 for debris, the track went green with the top five remaining the same. Edwards and Kenseth broke clean, the two opening a 2-second lead over Hamlin by Lap 90.
Kenseth immediately began pressuring Edwards for the lead, but at the 100-lap mark, Edwards was ahead by just 0.140 seconds, with Hamlin 3.864 seconds back in third, leading Kahne and Ragan.
But Harvick was not able muscle by Edwards, as the Ford slowly began to pull away. At the halfway point, Edwards led Harvick by 1.487 seconds, with Kenseth third. 7.860 seconds back. Then it was David Ragan and Mike Bliss completing the top five.
On Lap 129, Edwards lapped Kyle Busch, who already has three victories this season. But those all came in Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas, and on this night Busch was driving for Braun Racing, a team not as strong as JGR.
The dearth of caution flags at the 0.75-mile track meant there were just 17 cars on the lead lap by the 135th of 250 circuits. That changed on Lap 142, when Sam Hornish Jr. took exception to a pass made by David Reutimann, so he nerfed Reutimann’s Toyota coming out of Turn 2, though Reutimann avoided contact with the wall.
This time, the order out was Harvick, who took the lead for the first time all night in the first lead change since Lap 18. Bliss emerged third, ahead of Ragan and Kenseth.
The green flew on Lap 148, with Harvick getting the lapped car of Brad Keselowski to throw a pick in front of Edwards, allowing Harvick to open a 0.539-second lead at the Lap 150 mark.
The track went yellow again on Lap 160, after rookie Landon Cassill pancaked the Turn 2 wall in his JR Motorsports Chevrolet. On the Lap 164 restart, the order was Harvick, Edwards, Bliss, Kenseth and Hamlin.
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