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Motorsport

Denny Hamlin in tears as he surges to 60th career NASCAR Cup win in heroic drive

Denny Hamlin Chase Briscoe K Larson Kyle Larson Byron (Person) Chevrolet Ford Toyota Tyler Reddick Elliott

Denny Hamlin had to out-duel Kyle Larson and run down teammate Chase Briscoe in a dramatic showdown for the NASCAR Cup Series win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Hamlin made the pass for the win with just four laps to go, rocketing past Briscoe on the outside.

Hamlin went on to finally collect his coveted 60th career win, matching Kevin Harvick and entering the top ten in the all-time wins list. On the cool down lap, he was clearly wiping tears from his eyes.

"Yeah, it definitely means a lot," said Hamlin after grabbing the checkered flag. He didn't even taunt the booing fans as he likes to do after race wins: "This is the point where I kind of give the fans some shit, but not today. I appreciate all of you so much (tearing up). Obviously want to say hi to my dad, family back at home. All the friends that came out here for Vegas, hoping we get 60.

"I didn't think we were. Put the pedal down the last 10 laps, made it happen."

On his final charge through the field, Hamlin said: "I just held it down. That's all I could do, is just go for it. I felt like I had nothing to lose. Just go for it, try to punch a ticket now."

Larson went on to finish second, Christopher Bell third, Briscoe fourth, and Tyler Reddick fifth. Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Ryan Preece, and Brad Keselowski filled out the remainder of the top ten.

Stage 1

Hamlin led the race from pole position, but he quickly lost the lead to Briscoe as he briefly struggled to get the car into fifth gear.

About 33 laps into the race, Reddick triggered the first round of green-flag pit stops. A slow stop for Briscoe proved costly, dropping him from the lead down to fourth on track.

Byron inherited the race lead, but Reddick was close behind after pitting before anyone else.

With less than ten laps to go in the stage, there were major championship implications as Ryan Blaney cut a left-front tire and slammed the outside wall. He was out of the race, scoring one point and finishing 38th (last).

The field filed down pit road for fresh tires for the four-lap shootout to end the stage, while all those who had been lapped during the first round stayed out to take an easy wavearound.

Byron went on to win the stage, but it was hectic behind him as Elliott and Hamlin slammed doors in the battle for position.

Behind Byron, Larson ended Stage 1 in second, Briscoe third, Hamlin fourth, and Elliott fifth.

Stage 2

At the start of the second stage, Byron nearly spun from the lead after an aggressive push from Briscoe. Thankfully, disaster was avoided and this stage went caution-free.

About 36 laps into the stage, Bell was the first playoff driver into the pits. Elliott's tire let a tire slip away, resulting in a drive-through penalty for an uncontrolled tire. Bubba Wallace, who was running up front, also got penalized but for speeding.

Larson went on to win the stage, followed by Reddick, Byron, Hamlin, and Briscoe.

Elliott did a good enough job to get him into the free pass position, so he got back on the lead lap from the 25th position when the stage ended.

Stage 3

After a frantic restart, Larson got away with teammate Byron right behind him. Briscoe also touched the wall, and faded to the back-half of the top ten. He worried over the radio that he may knocked the toe out.

Larson remained in control until the final round of green-flag pit stops, which began on Lap 211 of 267 with Briscoe. Larson didn't lose the lead on pit road, but Byron blew by as Larson merged back onto the racing surface.

Radio chatter revealed that Larson missed the original call to pit, which opened the door for Byron's successful undercut.

Hamlin ran about seven laps longer before finally coming down pit road, but the team was slow on the right side, costing him several seconds.

Bowman and Gibbs also made contact at pit entry as the No. 48 entered pit road.

With about 35 laps to go, Byron actually got loose and nearly wrecked out of the lead. As he collected the car, Larson drove right on by and retook the top spot.

Moments later, Byron's race ended violently as he ran through the back of Ty Dillon's car as the latter attempted to pit. Byron had no idea as Dillon was off-sequence, resulting in race-ending damage for both drivers.

During the caution, a handful of drivers opted for two-tire calls in an attempt to gain track position, and potentially steal a win.

That put Briscoe and Logano on the front row, but the race quickly went back under yellow as Shane van Gisbergen and Ty Gibbs collided in a multi-car accident.

In the closing laps, Larson tried and failed to hold back Hamlin, allowing Briscoe to get away. But once Hamlin got clear of Larson, he quickly ran down his teammate and snatched the lead away.

Photos from Las Vegas - Race

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	D. Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing	11	Toyota	267	2:55'13.672		9	54
2	K. Larson Hendrick Motorsports	5	Chevrolet	267	+1.533 2:55'15.205	1.533	9	54
3	C. Bell Joe Gibbs Racing	20	Toyota	267	+2.294 2:55'15.966	0.761	9	43
4	C. Briscoe Joe Gibbs Racing	19	Toyota	267	+2.381 2:55'16.053	0.087	9	48
5	T. Reddick 23XI Racing	45	Toyota	267	+2.846 2:55'16.518	0.465	9	44
6	J. Logano Team Penske	22	Ford	267	+4.258 2:55'17.930	1.412	9	34
7	A. Bowman Hendrick Motorsports	48	Chevrolet	267	+4.456 2:55'18.128	0.198	9	33
8	K. Busch Richard Childress Racing	8	Chevrolet	267	+5.032 2:55'18.704	0.576	9	29
9	R. Preece RFK Racing	60	Ford	267	+5.085 2:55'18.757	0.053	10	28
10	B. Keselowski RFK Racing	6	Ford	267	+5.571 2:55'19.243	0.486	10	27
11	A. Cindric Team Penske	2	Ford	267	+5.679 2:55'19.351	0.108	9	26
12	C. Buescher RFK Racing	17	Ford	267	+6.043 2:55'19.715	0.364	9	25
13	N. Gragson Front Row Motorsports	4	Ford	267	+7.844 2:55'21.516	1.801	10	24
14	R. Stenhouse Jr Hyak Motorsports	47	Chevrolet	267	+8.145 2:55'21.817	0.301	10	23
15	E. Jones Legacy Motor Club	43	Toyota	267	+8.533 2:55'22.205	0.388	10	22
16	M. McDowell Spire Motorsports	71	Chevrolet	267	+9.097 2:55'22.769	0.564	10	21
17	R. Herbst 23XI Racing	35	Toyota	267	+9.717 2:55'23.389	0.620	9	20
18	C. Elliott Hendrick Motorsports	9	Chevrolet	267	+9.889 2:55'23.561	0.172	10	25
19	A. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing	16	Chevrolet	267	+10.693 2:55'24.365	0.804	10	18
20	D. Suarez TrackHouse Racing	99	Chevrolet	267	+11.453 2:55'25.125	0.760	10	17
21	T. Gilliland Front Row Motorsports	34	Ford	267	+11.632 2:55'25.304	0.179	9	16
22	B. Wallace 23XI Racing	23	Toyota	267	+12.332 2:55'26.004	0.700	10	20
23	R. Chastain TrackHouse Racing	1	Chevrolet	267	+14.185 2:55'27.857	1.853	13	14
24	Z. Smith Front Row Motorsports	38	Ford	267	+16.113 2:55'29.785	1.928	13	13
25	A. Dillon Richard Childress Racing	3	Chevrolet	267	+29.929 2:55'43.601	13.816	13	12
26	J. Berry Wood Brothers Racing	21	Ford	266	+1 Lap 2:55'24.861	1 Lap	9	11
27	J. Haley Spire Motorsports	7	Chevrolet	266	+1 Lap 2:55'25.689	0.828	10	10
28	C. Custer Haas Factory Team	41	Ford	266	+1 Lap 2:55'26.266	0.577	9	9
29	J. Nemechek Legacy Motor Club	42	Toyota	265	+2 Laps 2:55'27.977	1 Lap	10	8
30	J. Yeley NY Racing Team	44	Chevrolet	263	+4 Laps 2:55'30.612	2 Laps	9
31	K. Legge Live Fast Motorsports	78	Chevrolet	261	+6 Laps 2:55'34.688	2 Laps	10	6
32	C. Hocevar Spire Motorsports	77	Chevrolet	252	+15 Laps 2:47'06.208	9 Laps	10	6	Accident
33	S. van Gisbergen TrackHouse Racing	88	Chevrolet	245	+22 Laps 2:36'06.999	7 Laps	11	4	Accident
34	T. Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing	54	Toyota	244	+23 Laps 2:34'23.044	1 Lap	9	9	Accident
35	C. Ware Rick Ware Racing	51	Ford	243	+24 Laps 2:34'24.176	1 Lap	7	2	Accident
36	W. Byron Hendrick Motorsports	24	Chevrolet	235	+32 Laps 2:21'14.313	8 Laps	8	19	Accident
37	T. Dillon Kaulig Racing	10	Chevrolet	233	+34 Laps 2:21'59.578	2 Laps	9	1	Accident
38	R. Blaney Team Penske	12	Ford	70	+197 Laps 36'41.508	163 Laps	4	1	Accident
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