DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Denny Hamlin’s quest for a third consecutive Daytona 500 victory may have still been alive on the final lap, but its chance of success was ultimately undone during his final pit stop.
Hamlin led six times for a race-high 98 laps during the 63rd running of The Great American Race, which started Sunday afternoon and ended early Monday morning due to a near six-hour rain delay at lap 15.
For much of the night, it appeared he had the dominant race car. Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota Camry swept both stages at laps 65 and 130 and could seemingly make moves in the draft at will to pass other cars.
However, Hamlin’s race fell apart when the four remaining Toyota drivers – himself, Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell and Bubba Wallace – pitted for their last round of service with 27 laps remaining.
The quartet came onto pit road close together, but exited with larger gaps in between each car that prevented them from being able to gather back together in the draft as other cars steamed by at speed.
That meant the Toyotas were separated in the lead draft for the final 25-lap run to the finish, leaving each individual Camry driver to fend for themselves during the closing stages.
After cycling out 12th, Hamlin picked up three spots inside of 10 to go to get to ninth, then threaded his way through the fiery crash that punctuated the last lap for a top-five finish.
He was scored fifth at the checkered flag, but in Hamlin’s estimation, it was all a case of what could have been.
“I didn’t see (what happened at the end), I was too far back,” Hamlin noted. “We didn’t execute too well on pit road. It was just like the Duel. We came out in front of everybody, and didn’t have any help to get up to speed. They all blew by us because they were single file, so it just took away the power that I got, and that’s getting through traffic.
“The fact we got back to fifth there from 12th in the last couple of laps was pretty good. Dominant car.”
Normally, when it comes to success in the NASCAR Cup Series, fast pit stops are a vital competitive advantage in a sport where tenths – and sometimes thousandths – of a second are sometimes the difference between winning and losing.
In Hamlin’s case, on this particular night, it was a Catch 22. A strong pit stop actually lost him the race.
“We were just too far out front. We got on and off pit road too well,” said Hamlin. “I was just too far ahead of the pack. I figured the Chevys would make a move from two or three to go, because they were not going to win on the last lap from fifth or sixth. I was able to gain some positions. I think I was 12th and everybody was running single file, so it handcuffed me and I couldn’t really do anything. I hoped once I got to eighth, that as long as they made a move with two to go, I was in the energy and in the area where I could make something happen.
“We had such a dominant car; it was just one of those things that we actually executed too well.”
Hamlin will have another shot to take home a trophy from Daytona Int’l Speedway on Feb. 21, when the NASCAR Cup Series returns to the World Center of Racing to tackle the 3.61-mile road course layout.