Denny Hamlin Wins First Coca-Cola 600 in Double OT

Denny Hamlin held off Kyle Busch in double time beyond regulation to win his first Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway within the longest NASCAR race ever at a distance of 619.5 miles.

Hamlin and Ross Chastain began on the entrance row for the second time beyond regulation, with Busch following his teammate previous the broken automobile of Chastain and right into a battle for the win. In flip two on the ultimate lap, Busch tried to make the transfer stick on the excessive aspect however bought unfastened, sealing the win for Hamlin.

“It’s so particular,” Hamlin stated post-race. “It’s the final large one which’s not on my résumé. It meant a lot. … I’ve been a Coke household driver for 18 years. By no means received the Coke 600 earlier than. This implies so much. Man, we weren’t superb all day. Simply bought ourselves in the proper place on the proper time.“

The primary try at time beyond regulation ended with a crash involving the leaders. Austin Dillon bought an enormous run on chief Kyle Larson headed into flip 4 whereas Chastain tried to make a move on the skin. Dillon and Larson misplaced management and crashed, gathering Chastain and Joey Logano whereas Hamlin and Busch snuck via to place themselves in place for the win.

Additional time was introduced out when Chase Briscoe misplaced management of his Stewart Haas Racing Ford attempting to move low with two laps to go in regulation.

These have been just some of the 18 warning flags introduced out, essentially the most for the reason that 2005 Coke 600 the place a record-setting 22 yellow flags flew. There have been many issues over tyre sturdiness, as many drivers handled reduce tyres that led to cautions. The longest inexperienced flag run was solely 48 laps.

When not thrown for reduce tyres, some main wrecks collected many contenders. On a lap 192 restart, Ryan Blaney clipped the apron in flip one and picked up eleven different vehicles, together with Chase Elliott, Kurt Busch, Bubba Wallace, William Byron, and Brad Keselowski. A crimson flag was introduced out for a spectacular crash on lap 346 when Chris Buescher was despatched tumbling on entrance stretch, touchdown on his roof.

Daniel Suarez was working fourth when he made contact with Briscoe exiting flip 4, sending him spinning throughout the sector. Buescher was caught within the incident and despatched sliding into the grass, when his proper entrance tyre dug into the turf and launched his automobile right into a roll. Fortunately, Buescher instantly put his window web down to suggest that he was okay, and after a couple of minutes on his roof security crews set the automobile again on all fours (threes?) and he was in a position to get out of the automobile. Rookies Todd Gilliland and Harrison Burton have been additionally concerned within the crash.

The Coke 600 is cut up into 4 levels of 100 laps every, with Elliott, Suarez and Chastain successful levels.

Kevin Harvick fought via the pack all night time to complete third, with Briscoe recovering from his spin to complete fourth. Christopher Bell completed fifth, placing three of 4 Joe Gibbs Racing vehicles within the high 5.

Tyler Reddick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Michael McDowell, Larson, and Alex Bowman got here again for high ten finishes. Larson had three separate pit lane penalties and spun all throughout the first 200 laps, and was combating for the win till he bought caught in accidents on the finish of the race.

The following race on the calendar is Sunday 05 June, when the Cup Collection makes their debut at World Vast Expertise Raceway at Gateway.

Coca-Cola 600 – Official Outcomes