RADIO
Denny Hamlin Maintains the Championship Lead After Darlington Struggles
Denny Hamlin entered the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway as the No. 1 Seed for The Chase, but ended the race with the championship lead despite a big setback. Hamlin began the race from the fourth position after qualifying was canceled due to weather. The No. 11 Toyota driver started strong, as he went ahead and took the lead from Daniel Suarez and Tyler Reddick early in the first stage before Reddick took it back on lap 29. Hamlin took the lead back from Reddick later on in the stage on lap 45 and kept leading until later in the stage, when Reddick regained the lead again. From there, Hamlin went on to finish the first stage in third, behind Reddick and his teammate Bubba Wallace, who passed Hamlin before the stage ended under caution. In the second stage, Hamlin failed to reacquire the lead, but ran in the top five through most of the stage outside of pit stops. He went on to finish the stage in third and gained eight more stage points. During the stage break before the final stage, Hamlin's pit crew had a slow pit stop with trouble on the right-rear tire, causing him to lose positions. Then, on lap 241, Hamlin made contact with the wall and with Michael McDowell, causing him to lose plenty of speed due to damage. Hamlin fell two laps down after losing the pace, while his team took time to repair the damage. Hamlin spent the rest of the race trying to recover positions, but he finished 18th. Despite his underwhelming finish, Hamlin maintains the championship lead by 12 points ahead of Christopher Bell after the 27th race of the season.
Source: NASCAR.com
Source: NASCAR.com
