LEBANON, Tenn. (AP) — Denny Hamlin looked in his mirror wondering why nobody else went with him when the green flag dropped at the start of the Cracker Barrel 400 on Sunday night.
He said nothing on his radio, instead paying the penalty by going to the back of the field. Then he drove his way back to the front where he outraced Christopher Bell over the last four thrilling laps off a final restart to win at the Nashville Superspeedway.
“Man, what an unbelievable day,” Hamlin said. “Starting first, going to last and back to first.”
This was Hamlin’s second win this year and 62nd of his career, and he wound up leading a race-high 57 laps including the one that mattered most.
The 45-year-old Hamlin wound up racing side-by-side with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Bell and Chase Briscoe making it three-wide before Hamlin took the lead down the backstretch to win by 0.115 seconds in his No. 11 Toyota.
“Well, that’s why on the last lap, I committed to just run the bottom,” Hamlin said.
Team co-owner Heather Gibbs said watching the teammates race so hard was like kids on a family vacation swatting at each other in the backseat. But she said they raced cleanly.
“We want them to race for the win,” Heather Gibbs said. “That’s what they do, and it makes us proud.”
Hamlin, who won at Las Vegas and also the All-Star race at Dover, pulled within 97 points of Tyler Reddick in the season standings. Reddick finished sixth.
The race started 80 minutes late after rain delayed NASCAR’s Cup Series for a second straight week. The wait was worth it with a record 31 lead changes among a record 15 leaders. The race also featured 12 cautions at the 1.33-mile, D-shaped oval that is NASCAR’s largest concrete track.
Bell finished second for a second straight race ahead of Briscoe. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was fourth, and Shane Van Gisbergen rounded out the top five.
“I had the best car on the race track … and we had the lead on the restart,” Bell said. “I got a great push from Denny on the restart, and I didn’t win the race.”
One win closer to Busch
Hamlin now is one Cup victory away from matching his one-time teammate Kyle Busch, who died May 22 at 41. Busch is ninth all-time with his 63 Cup victories, and Hamlin said he certainly aspires to get there.
“It just shows how good he was for so long,” Hamlin said. “I saw the stats online where we ran together 500 and some races, and he finished ahead of me 10 more times than I beat him in the same equipment.”
Long time coming
Ryan Blaney, trying to repeat as champ at this track, led the restart trying to hold off AJ Allmendinger on a one-lap shootout for the first stage. Allmendinger took the lead on the backstretch, then held off Kyle Larson to take stage one for his first stage victory since 2024.
Stage 2 win
Suarez took the second stage after staying out during a caution and took the lead on the restart on lap 182. Then Corey Heim drove his No. 67 Toyota into the back of Todd Gilliland’s No. 34 Ford, sending him backward into the Turn 1 wall. That brought out the seventh caution with Cole Custer spinning out in the crash.
Lots of rotor woes
Rookie Connor Zilisch had the right rotor explode on his No. 88 Chevrolet sending him into the wall and smashing the right side on Turn 1 of lap 72. Zilisch got the Trackhouse Racing car into the garage with some flames coming out from under the right tire, which was stuck and nearly sideway.
He had been running 24th after starting 38th on the last row.
Trackhouse teammate Ross Chastain had his own rotor issue on lap 82 sending him into the wall between Turns 1 and 2. Michael McDowell spun trying to avoid Chastain’s No. 1 Chevrolet. Zilisch called the rotor problems a surprise when both he and Chastain had been moving up.
“Just unfortunate circumstances,” Zilisch said. “Yeah, we’ll learn from it.”
Van Gisbergen is the third member of Trackhouse Racing. His crew told him not to worry with his No. 97 Chevrolet running a completely different brake package. Ryan Preece went to the garage with no water in his No. 60 Ford, and his crew found a piece of rotor broken off into the radiator before he got back on the track.
Then Allmendinger, who was third, had the rotor spark and flame before his No. 16 Chevrolet hit the Turn 1 wall on lap 173 — with 12 laps left in Stage 2.
Chris Buescher was running 17th with 12 laps left when his right rotor went as he entered Turn 3.
Up next
The series will be at Michigan International Speedway next week where Hamlin will be trying to win for a second straight year and continue his winning streak.
___
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
