July 22, 2024

Denny Hamlin ended the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the 31st position on Sunday. Starting from the second position, Hamlin was one of the top drivers in the early portions of the race. In the first stage, Hamlin ran in the Top 5 until he took his first green flag pit stop on lap 24. From there, Hamlin came out ahead of other drivers who were initially in front of him before pitting and never looked back, holding off Kyle Larson to win the first stage. In the second stage, Hamlin restarted in the middle of the pack due to pitting during the stage break. The No. 11 Toyota driver continued to show better speed than most and pass cars up until he made it to third by the end of the second stage, gathering stage points in the process. Hamlin led the field at the beginning of the third and final stage, even through multiple cautions for incidents, until he pitted for fuel around lap 112. From there, Hamlin stayed off of pit road for most of the stage and made it back to fifth before Kyle Larson passed him. Hamlin was set for a top-5 finish until Kyle Busch spun, trying to overtake Hamlin with two laps to go. As the race went into overtime, Hamlin went to pit road for the final time for fuel, and then, on the ensuing restart, Hamlin was collected in a multi-car accident that ended his day. This would be Hamlin's second career DNF at Indianapolis as well as the third of the season. When the NASCAR Cup Series heads to Richmond next, Hamlin is anticipated to be one of the top favorites to win as he did in March, as he is looking to sweep the track for the first time ever in his Cup career.--Sean Engel - RotoBaller
Source: NASCAR.com