Denny Hamlin Overcomes Multiple Pit Road Issues to Win at Texas

Denny Hamlin earned his 33rd career victory on Sunday in the O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Hamlin didn't have much of a challenge at the end as second-place finisher Clint Bowyer was a good 2.5+ seconds back. Hamlin's pit crew got him out ahead of Bowyer with a good gap and that gap would seal the deal for Hamlin's second victory of the 2019 season and first since the Daytona 500 back in February.

Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones, and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top five. 

Pit road was a problem child to a good chunk of the field on Sunday, including to race winner Denny Hamlin. During the race, Hamlin sped entering pit road, missed the pit road entrance altogether, and then his crew had an uncontrolled tire setting up for what could've been a disastrous day for the No. 11 team. As the race wound down, Hamlin would find himself in the picture but one thing was going to need to happen, Kyle Busch needed to falter and falter was what he did.

With 59 laps remaining, Busch was leading his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Jones as he entered turns one and two. Busch about lost it shooting up the track, surrendering the lead to Jones and resulting in the No. 18 falling back to fourth. Busch would get back on the wheel and attempt to pass Almirola, Hamlin, and Jones. Just five laps later, Busch would smack the outside wall forcing him to stop and take right side tires. Without a caution coming out, Busch just couldn't get back up front finishing 10th.

Hamlin's crew would get a chance at retribution on the final stop of the day and that's just what they did. Without a late-race restart, the race was won on pit road as Hamlin's crew got the No. 11 out with a slight gap over Bowyer. That gap would ultimately become the margin of victory as Hamlin sailed to victory. 


Hamlin now joins teammate Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski as a two-time winner in 2019. The series now heads to Bristol, Tennessee for the Food City 500 where Kyle Busch is the defending race winner. Jimmie Johnson, who earned his first top-five finish since the 2018 Coca-Cola 600, won the race in 2017. (Koelle,2019)

Photo: Sean Gardner/Getty Images/NASCAR Media

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