Denny Hamlin Picks Up Much Needed Win at Richmond

The NASCAR Cup Series returned to Richmond International Raceway for one of two trips on the 2022 Schedule, as the NextGen car also made its short track debut.

This was a race that came down to long green flag runs and different kinds of strategies that came down to a battle among four drivers with William Byron leading the way with Martin Truex Jr, Denny Hamlin, and Kevin Harvick chasing him down. Hamlin was the one to make the pass with four laps to go and hold off Kevin Harvick to score the win and his first of 2022. The Toyota’s were off to a struggling start in 2022 and as for TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing, and even 23XI Racing, this is going to hopefully be a step in the right direction for them. This race featured seven different leaders, 13 lead changes, and five cautions. Ryan Blaney, who started from the pole, led the most laps with 128, as well as scoring the first stage. After this race, however, Blaney is now 0-for-10 in leading over 100 laps and going on to win a race. Hamlin entered Richmond 20th in the Standings and had not scored a top 10. He also becomes the first winner in 12 races not under the age of 30.

“Just drove as hard as I could,” Hamlin said in his post-race interview, “So proud of this whole FedEx Camry team, they just never gave up. There was no doubt in my mind, maybe just a little, but they got this car right there towards the end,” Hamlin stated. “Wow, this is just unbelievable.”

For William Byron, he and his Hendrick Motorsports team elected to stay out with older tires in the last 90 laps of the race and was out to a five-second lead. It didn’t work out in Byron’s favor since most of the leaders decided to pit and take new tires, allowing the likes of Truex, Harvick, and Hamlin to catch Byron. For Hamlin, he pitted with 47 laps to go and began to charge through the field, ultimately giving him the win.

As for runner-up Kevin Harvick, his winless streak continues on, as he went winless in 2021 after winning nine races in 2020. He felt rather positive after the race, saying that it was the first clean day he and his team have had all year.

“The cars have been fast and we had a shot there at the end just, I wanted to be close enough at the white [flag] to just take a swipe at him but the lapped cars got in the way and I lost a little bit of ground. Still a great day for us and hopefully a little bit of momentum.”

The race overall was a classic Richmond race that came down to long green-flag runs, different strategies, and old tires vs new tires. The NASCAR Cup Series heads next to Martinsville Speedway for the Blue Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 for a 7:30 pm EST start on Saturday, April 9th.

2022 Toyota Owners 400 Top 10:

1. Denny Hamlin
2. Kevin Harvick
3. William Byron
4. Martin Truex Jr
5. Kyle Larson
6. Christopher Bell
7. Ryan Blaney
8. Alex Bowman
9. Kyle Busch
10. Austin Dillon