LAS VEGAS – Denny Hamlin can go to Talladega Superspeedway and the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL without a care in the world.
Hamlin dominated the final stage of Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and held off a late charge from Chase Elliott to register his second victory of the season.
The victory automatically advances Hamlin to the third round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, meaning he can sleep comfortably this week while the rest of his championship competitors stress about racing at Talladega or the ROVAL.
“I am so happy, so happy to not have to worry about the next two weeks,” Hamlin said. “I’m professional, so I’m going to work just as hard each and every week to win.”
The driver of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota Camry spent more time at the front of the field than anyone Sunday evening, but he had plenty of competition from Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Elliott.
Larson started from the pole and ran at the front of the field for most of the race, but a pit strategy gamble that saw Larson pit late in the second stage dropped him to the back of the field. He was never able to recover, eventually finishing 10th.
Hamlin took full advantage of Larson’s pit strategy choice, cycling to the front of the filed near the end of stage two. With the exception of few laps during a cycle of green flag pit stops during the final stage, Hamlin spent the rest of the race at the front of the field.
However, it didn’t come without a challenge.
Elliott was able to find speed late in the race and began to run down Hamlin as he battled through slower traffic. In the final five laps Elliott was able to close within a few car lengths of Hamlin, but that was as close as he got.
In the end, Hamlin crossed the finish line first to earn the 46th NASCAR Cup Series victory of his career.
“Vegas, it feels so good to win at Vegas. The last couple of times I’ve been so close, we just didn’t have the right breaks,” Hamlin said. “They (the crew) dialed the car in great and great to hold those guys off.”
Elliott said Hamlin managed the gap perfectly in the final laps to hang on to the lead.
“We were really close, just not quite close enough,” Elliott said. “Denny did a good job controlling the gap to me. He was having a hard time with the 21 (Matt DiBenedetto). I think he was doing a good job of given himself enough room to him to be able to work the lanes and kind of control the gap back to me.
“I feel like we’ve been performing at a really nice level the last three or four weeks, we just haven’t had results to show for it. Proud of the effort tonight.”
Kyle Busch finished third despite bouncing off the wall twice during the race. Martin Truex Jr. was fourth, followed by Ryan Blaney in fifth.
Playoff competitors William Byron (18th), Alex Bowman (22nd) and Christopher Bell (24th) each had issues during Sunday evening’s race, leaving them all in need of big weekends at Talladega and the ROVAL if they hope to advance to the next round of the playoffs.
Of note, Joey Gase was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation after being involved in a massive crash in turns one and two on lap 92 after his left-rear tire fell off. He did, however, walk to the ambulance after the crash.