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Savvy Pit Strategy Helps Denny Hamlin Win Stage 2 At Homestead
Homestead has always been one of Denny Hamlin's stronger tracks, so it didn't come as much of a surprise that he eventually finished fifth in Sunday's race there, but for a while, it looked like he might finish significantly worse. Hamlin initially started 23rd and fell back as low as 30th in the early laps of Stage 1, but a savvy strategy play to stay out of the pits later during each of the first two stages allowed him to have fresher tires at the end of both stages. It reaped great dividends, as he blasted through the field at the end of both stages, eventually finishing 11th in Stage 1 while making up a massive deficit to Ryan Blaney to win Stage 2. However, he lost the lead to Kyle Larson on the Stage 2 pit stops and would never regain it. His solid run helped erase some doubts as to how Hamlin would run on intermediates without Chris Gabehart as his crew chief.
Source: Racing Reference
Source: Racing Reference
