Race report
NASCAR Cup Bristol II
Denny Hamlin runs down Matt DiBenedetto for Bristol win
Denny Hamlin cut short what would have been a NASCAR Cinderella story, passing Matt DiBenedetto with nine laps remaining to win at Bristol.
Jim Utter
Edited: Aug 18, 2019, 3:38 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Hamlin, who started on the pole, got into second with 45 of 500 laps remaining then patiently ran down DiBenedetto, finally passing him with 11 laps to go. DiBenedetto remained close but could not get another chance to pass Hamlin back before the finish.
The win is Hamlin’s fourth of the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season and second in the last four races. It’s also the 35th victory of his career.
"I'm just want to say sorry to Matt DiBendetto and Mike Wheeler (his crew chief). I hate it," Hamlin said. "I know a win would mean a lot to that team but I got to give 110 percent to my whole team. Just sorry.
"This team gave me a great car. Everybody is doing an amazing job. We're just kicking ass."
Asked how he ran down DiBenedetto, Hamlin said, "Between my spotter and crew chief, they just stayed on me to not be anxious. I took my time. I had plenty of time. I just worked him over and worked him over.
"I didn't want to show him the bottom (lane) until I knew I could make the pass. So I ran the top, ran the top, got the position on the bottom and finished it. We had a great car, came back from a couple laps down and here we are."
Brad Keselowski finished third, Kyle Busch was fourth and Chase Elliott completed the top-five.
Rounding out the top-10 were Kyle Larson, Clint Bowyer, Daniel Suarez, Kurt Busch and Ryan Blaney.
Stage 3
Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, Kyle Busch elected not to pit and took over the lead when the race returned to green on Lap 260. He was followed by Elliott, Erik Jones, Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr.
On Lap 265, Keselowski came off Turn 2 and got around Kyle Busch to take the lead for the first time in the race.
With 200 laps remaining in the race, Keselowski maintained a small lead over Kyle Busch with Elliott in third, followed by Truex and Jones.
By Lap 330, Keselowski remained the leader followed by Kyle Busch but Jones had moved his way into the third position.
Kevin Harvick, who went to the garage just before the conclusion of Stage 2, was officially declared out of the race on Lap 341 with a clutch issue. He led 28 laps early in the race.
Kyle Busch got a good run off Turn 2 on Lap 352 and went to the inside of Keselowski to take the lead.
On Lap 362, Joey Logano and Alex Bowman made contact off Turn 2 to bring out a caution. Just before the caution, Truex had tagged the wall and was forced to drop to pit road for repairs.
The lead-lap cars elected to pit with Kyle Busch the first driver off pit road. He led the way on the restart on Lap 371, followed by Jones, Keselowski, Elliott and Bowyer.
On Lap 373, a multi-car wrecked erupted in Turn 2 involving Blaney, Michael McDowell, David Ragan, Jimmie Johnson and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Blaney appeared to have a tire go down.
Just before the caution, Jones got around Kyle Busch to take the lead for the first time in the race.
On the restart on Lap 388, Jones led the way followed by Kyle Busch, Elliott, DiBenedetto and Keselowski.
DiBenedetto got around Jones off Turn 2 on Lap 396 to take the lead for the first time. Jones tagged the wall just after the move and fell off the pace. He eventually went to pit road under green for repairs.
With 90 to go, DiBenedetto had moved out to a 1.2-second lead over Elliott. Keselowski was third, Hamlin fourth and Kyle Busch fifth.
After 440 laps, Elliott was closing on DiBenedetto for the lead as Keselowski ran close behind in third.
With 45 laps remaining, Hamlin moved into the second position as Keselowski ran third, Elliott fourth and Kyle Busch fifth.
With 25 to go, DiBenedetto maintained a small but consistent lead over Hamlin as Keselowski remained in third.
On Lap 490, Hamlin finally worked his way around DiBenedetto to reclaim the lead.
Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Laps Led 1 11 
Denny Hamlin Toyota 500 79 2 95 Matt DiBenedetto Toyota 500 0.502 93 3 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 500 6.370 91 4 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 500 6.434 30 5 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 500 6.714 33 6 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 500 6.975 62 7 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 500 13.613 8 41 
Daniel Suarez Ford 499 1 lap 9 1 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 499 1 lap 9 10 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 499 1 lap 11 6 Ryan Newman Ford 499 1 lap 12 8 Daniel Hemric Chevrolet 499 1 lap 13 19 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 498 2 laps 52 14 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 498 2 laps 15 88 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 497 3 laps 16 22 Joey Logano Ford 497 3 laps 17 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 497 3 laps 18 47 Ryan Preece Chevrolet 497 3 laps 19 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 496 4 laps 20 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 496 4 laps 21 24 William Byron Chevrolet 496 4 laps 22 20 Erik Jones Toyota 495 5 laps 23 23 21 Paul Menard Ford 495 5 laps 24 32 Corey Lajoie Ford 494 6 laps 25 00 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 490 10 laps 26 15 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 490 10 laps 27 36 Matt Tifft Ford 487 13 laps 28 54 J.J. Yeley Ford 485 15 laps 29 10 Aric Almirola Ford 482 18 laps 30 27 Quin Houff Chevrolet 478 22 laps 31 52 Kyle Weatherman Chevrolet 474 26 laps 32 51 B.J. McLeod Chevrolet 410 90 laps 33 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 391 109 laps 34 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 387 113 laps 35 53 Josh Bilicki Chevrolet 373 127 laps 36 38 David Ragan Ford 371 129 laps 37 34 Michael McDowell Ford 368 132 laps 38 77 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 269 231 laps 39 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 244 256 laps 28
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Pit strategy gives Kurt Busch Stage 2 win over Suarez
Next article Emotional DiBenedetto "wanted to win so bad" at Bristol
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jim Utter
Erik Jones agrees to multi-year contract extension with Legacy Motor Club
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Erik Jones agrees to multi-year contract extension with Legacy Motor Club
Goodyear's option tires at Richmond "were like Mario Kart with a star"
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
Goodyear's option tires at Richmond "were like Mario Kart with a star"
NASCAR: Austin Dillon move was "really close to crossing the line"
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
NASCAR: Austin Dillon move was "really close to crossing the line"
Latest news
Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
3 h
Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
3 h
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 3 h
IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing
Noah Gragson apologizes to Daniel Suarez for spinning him at Homestead
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
4 h
Noah Gragson apologizes to Daniel Suarez for spinning him at Homestead
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe