Race report
NASCAR O'Reilly Darlington
Denny Hamlin goes from last to first in Darlington Xfinity win
Denny Hamlin won another NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington, but this one came under much more difficult circumstances.
Jim Utter
Edited: Aug 31, 2019, 11:22 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
UPDATE: Hamlin's car failed post-race inspection and he has been disqualified.
Read Also:
In his five previous series wins at Darlington, Hamlin had won from the pole. Not this time.
After hitting the wall in practice on Friday, Hamlin had to start Saturday’s SportClips 200 from the rear of the field but that didn’t keep him from the front.
On Lap 121 of 147, Hamlin passed Ryan Blaney for the lead and then held off a furious charge from Cole Custer on the final lap following a restart with 10 to go.
Custer tried to go low on Hamlin through Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap but seemed to get slowed up by the lapped car of Vinnie Miller.
The win is Hamlin’s first of the season and 18th of his career.
“We did not have the best car by any means but luckily the techniques I’ve learned over so many years kind of helped us there,” Hamlin said. “They guys did a great job getting this car ready.
“I put us behind the eight-ball by putting us in a backup car to begin with by making a big old driver mistake.
“This is amazing to see this turnout here. Darlington gave me my first start in the Xfinity Series and is what got me my job with Joe Gibbs Racing. So, thank you fans, see you tomorrow and hopefully we’ll do it one more time.”
Tyler Reddick ended up third, Blaney was fourth and Christopher Bell completed the top-five. Dale Earnhardt Jr., making his only NASCAR start of the season, finished sixth.
With 40 laps remaining, Blaney maintained small but steady lead over Custer as Hamlin had moved up to third. Reddick ran fourth and Justin Allgaier – despite a few run-ins with the wall – was fifth.
With 30 to go, Blaney remained out front but Hamlin had moved into the runner-up spot and began trying to run down the leader. Custer fell to third.
On Lap 121, Hamlin finally ran down Blaney on the frontstretch to take the lead for the first time.
On Lap 132, Josh Williams spun off Turn 4 and slammed into the inside retaining wall to bring out a caution. All of the lead-lap cars elected to pit and Hamlin was the first off pit road.
Hamlin led the way on the restart with 10 laps remaining followed by Custer, Blaney, Reddick and Earnhardt Jr.
Stage 2
Blaney got around Reddick with six of 45 laps remaining and held on for the Stage 2 win over Allgaier.
Reddick ended up third, Custer was fourth and Hamlin rounded out the top-five.
Following the break between Stages 1 and 2, all of the lead-lap cars elected to pit with Reddick the first off pit road. On the restart on Lap 53, Reddick was followed by Bell and Blaney.
Brandon Brown spun off Turn 2 after the restart and was tagged by Noah Gragson to bring another caution. The race returned to green on Lap 57 with Reddick still in the lead.
With 30 laps remaining in the second stage, Reddick held a small advantage over Blaney. They were followed by Chase Briscoe, Allgaier and Custer.
After 70 laps, Hamlin had made his way up to the sixth position and was closing in on Custer for fourth.
With 24 laps remaining in the stage, Blaney caught Reddick and got side-by-side with him twice but was unable to complete the pass.
On Lap 85, Blaney finally went to the inside of Reddick and cleared him to retake the lead in the race.
With two laps to go, Blaney had already moved out to a more than 1.2-second lead over Reddick as Allgaier moved to third.
On the last lap, Allgaier got into the wall as he battled Reddick for the runner-up position.
Stage 1
Reddick held off a strong challenge from Blaney to take the Stage 1 win.
Bell was third, Briscoe fourth and Allgaier rounded out the top-five.
Blaney, who started on the pole, moved out to a 2-second lead over Reddick after eight laps. Hamlin, who started from the rear of the field, had already moved up to 15th.
On Lap 12, John Hunter Nemechek spun off Turn 4 and narrowly avoided Haley to bring out the first caution of the race.
Only a couple of drivers elected to pit under the caution. When the race returned to green on Lap 17, Blaney continued to lead followed by Reddick and Bell.
Reddick got around Blaney shortly after the restart to take the lead for the first time in the race.
With 20 laps remaining in the first stage, Reddick maintained a small lead over Blaney with Bell running in third.
After 35 laps, Reddick had expanded his lead over Blaney to 1.2 seconds while Bell remained third. Briscoe was fourth and Custer ran fifth.
Four drivers had to start the race from the rear of the field – Hamlin for going to a backup car and B.J. McLeod, J.J. Yeley and Morgan Shepherd, all for unapproved adjustments.
Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Laps Led 1 18 
Denny Hamlin Toyota 147 1:41'08.0 27 2 00 Cole Custer Ford 147 0.602 3 2 Tyler Reddick Chevrolet 147 1.670 70 4 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 147 2.688 50 5 20 Christopher Bell Toyota 147 3.422 6 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 147 4.258 7 98 Chase Briscoe Ford 147 5.002 8 19 Brandon Jones Toyota 147 5.038 9 9 Noah Gragson Chevrolet 147 5.943 10 7 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 147 6.853 11 22 Austin Cindric Ford 147 8.496 12 11 Justin Haley Chevrolet 147 10.636 13 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 147 10.754 14 1 Michael Annett Chevrolet 147 11.717 15 39 Ryan Sieg Chevrolet 147 12.008 16 08 Gray Gaulding Chevrolet 147 12.282 17 07 Ray Black Jr. Chevrolet 147 12.676 18 90 
Alex Labbé Chevrolet 147 12.988 19 01 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 147 13.188 20 4 B.J. McLeod Chevrolet 147 26.178 21 93 Camden Murphy Chevrolet 146 1 lap 22 23 John Hunter Nemechek Chevrolet 146 1 lap 23 99 Stefan Parsons Toyota 146 1 lap 24 66 Timmy Hill Toyota 146 1 lap 25 36 Josh Williams Chevrolet 144 3 laps 26 35 Joey Gase Toyota 144 3 laps 27 15 Stephen Leicht Chevrolet 144 3 laps 28 52 David Starr Chevrolet 144 3 laps 29 78 Vinnie Miller Toyota 143 4 laps 30 0 Garrett Smithley Chevrolet 143 4 laps 31 61 Chad Finchum Toyota 133 14 laps 32 5 Matt Mills Toyota 128 19 laps 33 74 Mike Harmon Chevrolet 114 33 laps 34 86 Brandon Brown Chevrolet 85 62 laps 35 17 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 72 75 laps 36 13 Tommy Joe Martins Toyota 61 86 laps 37 38 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 34 113 laps 38 89 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 27 120 laps
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 With help from Dale Jr., Noah Gragson hoping for Darlington win
Next article Hamlin disqualified from Darlington Xfinity race, Custer wins
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
28 min
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
50 min
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 1 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
1 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