Denny Hamlin passed Joey Logano on the last lap of the 35th Annual Hisense 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and gave Joe Gibbs Racing its first Xfinity Series win at the 1.5 mile track. With a bit of luck, the #18 Hisense USA Toyota of Denny Hamlin got a second chance when Xfinity teammate Erik Jones blew a tire in the closing moments of the race. When the caution flag came out his team elected to come in for four fresh tires for the re-start, which provided the NASCAR mainstay the advantage he needed to drive on to victory.
Denny Hamlin re-started in the sixth position. He first passed Kyle Larson, when he got loose and hit the wall, and then Sprint Cup Series stud Joey Logano to win going away on fresh tires. Logano and Larson had been out nearly 40 laps on old tires and simply couldn’t hold off the fresher tires of Hamlin.
It didn’t come easy for the Kyle Busch-owned race car, who had to comeback because of a penalty earlier in the contest for an uncontrolled tire and dropped from fourth to 13th. Denny Hamlin wasn’t phased by the mistake and calmly told his spotter ”cool” on the radio after he was hit by the infraction.
“It was a second opportunity, obviously,” Denny Hamlin said of the last caution. “I was hoping for that caution there at the end and we got it and we were able to get four tires on this Hisense Camry and took off. It was a collaborative call. Chris Gayle, Hamlin’s crew chief, leaned towards staying out, but I thought that I could get around those guys in just two laps even though we were way faster on that last run. It all worked out and it was very exciting in that last corner, a little more exciting than what I expected.”
Sixth place finisher Kyle Larson appeared to have the race in the bag after passing the #22 Discount Tire Ford of Joey Logano with six laps remaining to take the lead. Moments later, Erik Jones had his tire go down with less than two laps to go, bringing out the race’s eighth caution flag and forced a two-lap overtime situation.
It appeared for a moment that Kyle Larson would get his revenge on fellow Sprint Cup racer Joey Logano for beating him out last weekend to win the Sprint Cup All-Star race. Kyle Larson’s crew chief Mike Shiplett threw up his hands in utter frustration. After the conclusion to the race it was clear the comments made by Larson brought his frustration to light.
“I’m getting used to it by now,” a dejected Larson told FOX Sports, then proceeded to walk away in utter disappointment.
Third place finisher Joey Logano was in the lead on the final go around before Denny Hamlin blew by him to claim the win. Logano led 58 of the 206 laps turned and had a powerful car that was out in front when the caution flew.
When the green flag was waved for the final time, the front duo of Joey Logano and Kyle Larson battled through Turns 1 and 2 for the lead. Logano pulled through into the lead when Denny Hamlin drove up high and took second on the outside. When Logano took the white flag, signaling one lap to go, Denny Hamlin challenged him for the lead and pulled ahead on the final lap.
Kyle Larson then gained a lot of momentum in Turns 1 and 2 and attempted to chase down Denny Hamlin for one more try. The #42 ENEOS Chevrolet drove too hard into Turn 3 to make it stick, and slid up the track and hit the wall coming to the checkered flag.
“We had a shot … I know I had to get a good start to get by Larson and hope for the best,” Logano said of the green-white-checkered finish. “He was coming like crazy. I went into three thinking I could win the race and off four he was all over me. He just had to much power and grip and away he went.”
The 35th Annual Hisense 300 took two hours and 41 minutes to compete and the average speed of the competing field was 114.515 mile per hour. The race had eight cautions that used up 54 of the 206 laps and the average margin of victory was only .291 seconds. Erik Jones won the Coors Light Pole Award and Mobil 1 Driver of the Race Award went to race winner Denny Hamlin.
Final Results for The 35th Annual Hisense 300 Charlotte Motor Speedway:
- Denny Hamlin, Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing
- Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing
- Joey Logano, Ford, Team Penske
- Cole Custer, Chevrolet, JR Motorsports
- Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, JR Motorsports
- Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing
- Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing
- Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing
- Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing
- Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing
- Jeb Burton, Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports
- Daniel Suarez, Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing
- Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, RSS Racing
- Blake Koch, Chevrolet, Kaulig Racing
- Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, JD Motorsports
- Ryan Blaney, Ford, Team Penske
- Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, JD Motorsports
- Drew Herring, Toyota, JGL Racing
- Ryan Reed, Ford, Roush-Fenway Racing
- Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, Clements Family Racing
- Dakoda Armstrong, Toyota, JGL Racing
- Ryan Preece, Chevrolet, JD Motorsports
- J. Yeley, Toyota, Tri-Star Motorsports
- Harrison Rhodes, Chevrolet, Obiaka Racing
- J. McLeod, Ford, McLeod Motorsports
- Martin Roy, Chevrolet, King Autosports
- Darrell Wallace Jr., Ford, Roush-Fenway Racing
- Elliott Sadler, Chevrolet, JR Motorsports
- Spencer Gallagher, Chevrolet, GMS Racing
- Carl Long, Toyota, MBM Racing
- Erik Jones, Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing
- Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, DCR Racing
- Timmy Hill, Chevrolet, Rick Ware Racing
- Jeff Green, Toyota, Tri-Star Motorsports
- Mike Harmon, Dodge, Harmon Racing
- Joey Gase, Chevrolet, Means Racing
- Ray Black Jr., Chevrolet, SS-Green Light Racing
- Cody Ware, Ford, Rick Ware Racing
- Josh Wise, Chevrolet, RSS Racing
- Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota, Tri-Star Motorsports
