While the NASCAR Xfinity Series regular season is winding down, the NASCAR Cup Series begins its playoffs at the historic Darlington Raceway with one of the major crown jewels on the schedule, the Southern 500.
However for the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200 Xfinity Series race, it was once again Denny Hamlin conquering the field and collecting his sixth win at the track in the series. After an overtime restart on lap 147, Hamlin passed regular-season title contender Austin Hill, leading him to the victory.
“I really needed some long runs,” said Hamlin, who led 14 laps and didn’t make his move until the final stage. “But I didn’t really want to show everything that we had ’til the very end of the race there.”
“We really did a good job of maintaining everything that we had.”
John Hunter Nemechek, who was just announced as the driver for the Legacy Motor Club’s No. 42 Toyota for 2024, led 99 laps and swept both stages in the race. Cole Custer finished fourth, with Josh Berry finishing fifth. Riley Herbst earned a sixth-place finish that made him leap over Parker Kligerman for the final spot in the Xfinity Series playoffs. After a 24th-place finish by Kligerman, Herbst holds the final spot by one point going into the final race of the regular season next weekend. Kligerman had a 12th-place run going until contact from Sam Mayer’s No. 1 Chevrolet that sent him spinning with six laps to go.
Kligerman, who had overcome a slow pit stop and brushed the wall at one point, wasn’t too happy with Sam Mayer afterward.
“To come back from that and have to make a bunch of adjustments, then just get flat run over by the 1 car,” Kligerman said. “It’s so disappointing. He’s got to clean it up.”
Mayer did take responsibility for the accident after finishing in 11th, notably saying “I effed up.”
Austin Hill leaves Darlington with a 23-point lead over John Hunter Nemechek as they battle for the regular season championship.
Kyle Larson, the 2021 Cup Series Champion, started off his quest for a second championship with another major crown jewel to add to his resume, the Southern 500. Larson held off Tyler Reddick to claim a spot in the Round of 12. This marked the 22nd win of Larson’s career.
“Yeah, finally from start to finish,” Larson said after the race. “Eighteenth to third in the first stage, I didn’t think that was possible. Our race car was really good when the sun was out. Just had to work on it.”
“What a great way to start the playoffs, and hopefully we can keep it going.”
Larson was able to take the lead after a quick pit stop on Lap 313 and would go on to lead for the final 55 laps. Reddick left it all on the track but would come up short.
“Kyle and I were pretty close the majority of the day, honestly, and he just got ahead of us there on pit road, but all in all, this is the day that we needed to have,” said Reddick, who led 90 laps on the day.
“Really just thankful for the hard work from my pit crew, from the team, everyone at the shop. Days like this, with a car like this, we haven’t been able to get a second-place finish out of it, so really glad we were able to do that, and it was a really good points day on top of that, as well.”
A red-hot Chris Buescher finished third, William Byron finished fourth, and Ross Chastain rounded out the top five. Brad Keselowski and Bubba Wallace also earned good points by finishing sixth and seventh.
While Denny Hamlin had a strong race, leading for 177 laps and sweeping both stages until making an unscheduled green flag pit stop, believing he had a loose wheel. He was then collected in a five-car wreck on Lap 331, ending his hopes of a comeback with a 25th-place finish.
Both the Xfinity and Cup Series head to Kansas Speedway next weekend as the Xfinity Series concludes the regular season.
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