In the end, it was all about Denny Hamlin. And not in a quiet, subtle, or humble way. No, this was Hamlin in full rockstar mode—winning the final race off pit road, then snatching the lead on an overtime restart like a thief in the night Sunday. It was his fifth career win at Darlington Raceway, and you could argue it was one of his most daring, most dramatic, and maybe even most satisfying.
The overtime? Oh, that came after a final 10 laps of sheer, unfiltered NASCAR lunacy.
Tyler Reddick, who had pitted under green with 55 laps to go, looked poised to steal the show. But then Ryan Blaney—on fresher tires and moving like his seat was on fire—blasted past him with four laps left, flying down the backstretch like a man who forgot to pick up the kids from school.
But Darlington, in its usual sadistic fashion, wasn’t done. Reddick, whose tires had aged about as gracefully as a gas station sandwich, slapped the wall coming out of Turn 2 for the second time in 20 laps. Behind him was Kyle Larson, who’d already spun on Lap 4 and limped to the garage looking like his race was over before it began. And yet, there he was—back on track, 122 laps behind and somehow still able to cause chaos.
Larson checked up. Then he spun. Again. In the exact same place. Cue the eighth caution of the day. Overtime was on.
Hamlin emerged first from pit road, followed by Reddick, William Byron, and Blaney. And when the green flew, Hamlin drove off like he’d just remembered he left the oven on. Behind him? Chaos. Reddick, Byron, and Blaney went three-wide, all but tripping over each other.
“There’s two people I really love right now: my pit crew and Kyle Larson,” Hamlin said. “Had a little assist there, so thank you.”
Byron came home second. And if there’s ever been a man more gutted in South Carolina, they probably just got pulled over in McBee—a charming speed trap masquerading as a town on the way to Darlington.
Byron started on pole and led 243 laps, smashing Bill Elliott’s long-standing record from 1988. It was, by all rights, the NASCAR version of a no-hitter. And just like a no-hitter, it vanished cruelly in the bottom of the ninth.
He led every lap of Stage 1, becoming the first driver in stage-racing history to do so. He repeated the feat in Stage 2. There were yellow flags, stage breaks, pit cycles—the usual swirling madness—but none of it mattered. Byron’s throwback Jeff Gordon paint scheme may have been a tribute, but to the rest of the field, it was just a blur they couldn’t catch.
Then came lap 243. He had to pit. Under green. Hamlin inherited the lead—becoming only the second leader of the entire day. Reddick, who had pitted a few laps earlier, leapfrogged them both. Byron, now in dirty air, was stuck. From there, it all unraveled. A dominant drive, undone in minutes.
William Byron Gave a Darlington Clinic—Then Got Mugged at the Finish Line
And then, Hamlin—fresh off a Martinsville win where he led 274 laps—did it again. Two wins in a row. Something he hadn’t pulled off in 13 years.
Byron stood on pit road afterward, staring into the middle distance like someone who’d just dropped their ice cream cone in July.
“Really proud of my team,” he said. “Bringing that level of effort and preparation, have a car like that. For us to execute like that, it was looking like it was going to be a perfect race. We were going to lead every lap. Was really proud of that.”
Behind him, Christopher Bell clawed his way to third after some pit road hiccups. Reddick salvaged fourth. And Blaney—despite going five races outside the top 10—landed fifth. Which is nice, but not exactly the trophy he had in mind.
“Just really wasn’t meant to be,” Blaney shrugged. “I really wanted and would have liked to have won here. That would have been really neat. Just wasn’t meant to be. Proud of the effort. We’ll keep plugging along.”
Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs, and Kyle Busch rounded out the top 10. But really, the day belonged to two people: Denny Hamlin and William Byron—for very different reasons.
And now, we go to Bristol. The track where Hamlin is the defending winner. Could he make it three in a row? That’s not just a hat trick—that would almost be a grand slam home run that would make even Wilyer Abreu proud.
“Man, the pit crew just did an amazing job,” Hamlin said. “They won it last week. They won it this week. It’s all about them.”
It may be all about them—but on Sunday, it was definitely all about Denny.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.