TC Daily Pit Stop: Hamlin Snipes Richmond Victory in Overtime; Truex Frustrated by Final Restart; Berry Misses Out on Top-10; Burton Hoping to Thrive in Upcoming Races
TC Daily Pit Stop: Monday, April 1, 2024
Denny Hamlin Snipes Richmond Victory in NASCAR Overtime
There was no doubt Kyle Larson and Martin Truex, Jr. had the NASCAR Cup Series field in their back pocket in Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400, but as is the case many times in motor racing, the fastest vehicle doesn’t always park in Victory Lane.
Instead, a picture-perfect sequence of events allowed Denny Hamlin to be the driver celebrating on the frontstretch at Richmond Raceway, collecting his second victory of the 2024 season, and his fifth at the three-quarter-mile short track in Richmond, Virginia.
It all started with the evening’s fifth and final caution, when Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace made contact while battling for a position inside the top five, sending the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion spinning down the frontstretch with two laps remaining.
Joey Logano finished second, with Kyle Larson, Martin Truex, and Chase Elliott rounding out the top-five. Christopher Bell, William Byron, Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher, and Tyler Reddick completed the top-10.
RACE RECAP
RACE RESULTS
DRIVER POINTS
OWNER POINTS
INSPECTION REPORT
LOOP DATA TOTALS
Martin Truex Jr. Frustrated by Hamlin’s Final Restart; Runs into Him After Race
Heartbreak will make even the calmest men do things completely out of character.
Martin Truex Jr., who led a race-high 228 laps in the 407-lap Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway, was seeing red after he lost the race in an overtime finish to his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin. After the heart-breaking loss, Truex doored Kyle Larson on the cool down lap, who also ran him wide on the restart, and then chased down Hamlin on the track and slammed into the back bumper of his No. 11 car on the cool down lap.
Truex wasn’t just mad that he lost the race lead on pit road under the final caution of the race, which came out with two laps remaining after an incident between Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace. That stung, but Truex was upset with Hamlin’s decisions on the final restart of the race.
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Josh Berry Falls Just Short of Top-10 After Strong Showing at Richmond
From a race-winning car to a heated conversation off-track, Josh Berry had a night to remember at Richmond Raceway.
Who could forget last year’s spring Richmond event, where Hendrick Motorsports swept the top three positions. Sitting in that second spot was Josh Berry, filling in for an injured Chase Elliott. Though Berry is now with the No. 4, his confidence at the short tracks is unchanged, especially considering the strength of Stewart-Haas Racing at Bristol.
Strategy would be key on Sunday as damp conditions forced the NASCAR Cup Series drivers to start the Toyota Owners 400 with wet weather tires.
Knowing the product that Richmond Raceway has produced over the past so many years, gaining track position would be no easy task. Unfortunately for Berry, a qualifying time of 22.574 set him towards the back of the field to start the race.
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Video: Josh Berry Sends Daniel Suarez Spinning on Lap 64
Josh Berry has been on a tear in the opening laps of the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway. After starting 30th, Berry moved into the 10th position, and was working on Daniel Suarez for the ninth spot when the two collided on Lap 64.
After Berry made contact with the rear of Suarez’s car, Suarez went for a spin. Fortunately, for Suarez, he didn’t clip the inside pit road wall, and he didn’t suffer any real damage to his car.
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Harrison Burton Hopes to Build Momentum at Richmond
Several drivers are still looking to find momentum, six races into 2024. Harrison Burton hopes that Richmond Raceway is where his luck will turn around.The newly-engaged driver is coming off a difficult weekend at Circuit of The Americas, putting together a 30th-place result. While some drivers felt they lacked speed because of the aero package, Burton was dealing with another issue, sharing that he was struggling in the braking zones.
“Turn One and then Turn 12 we were off and everywhere else we were a top five, top 10 average, and then just get killed in the braking zones,” Burton said Saturday. “So, there’s a lot of things we can try and do to make that better and I think once we get that we’ll be really fast, it’s just about how much you sacrifice in other places to kind of gain in different areas of the racetrack.”
Thankfully, Burton won’t have to deal with another road course until the NASCAR Cup Series heads to a freshly-repaved Sonoma Raceway in June. However, last weekend did mark another up-and-down event for the No. 21 team.
The 23-year-old hopes to leave some of his more frustrating efforts in the dust, as he looks ahead to this weekend at Richmond Raceway, and the next couple of weeks afterward at Martinsville Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, and Talladega Superspeedway.
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Hamlin clearly jumped the restart - should have been relegated to the last position of the lead lap cars - pretty basic stuff - Nascar’s rules being selectively applied.