Denny Hamlin spins and then wins at Chicagoland

What could have turned into a disastrous Chase for the Sprint Cup opener, evolved into a victory for Denny Hamlin on Sunday.

Although Hamlin started 29th and spun on Lap 2 as he slowed to avoid AJ Allmendinger, the No. 11 Fed Ex team came from 42nd-place and a lap down to win at Chicagoland Speedway. 

With the victory — his second of the season — Hamlin transfers to the Contender round of the Chase. 

An impressive comeback

“This is unbelievable,” Hamlin said. “Our Camry was so fast today. I told them when they changed it – they changed it to FedEx Ground just for this race because we needed consistency and reliability and that’s what FedEx Ground is and that’s what we were today.

“Coming back from a lap down – we had a fast car. We were running under green over and over and over and I thought we would never get back on the lead lap. Thanks to all of our partners at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) for building a fast race car. Everyone that helps support this. Can’t thank Sprint and the fans enough – this was a great race to start the Chase.”

Hamlin was running 24th when the second caution ignited on Lap 123 and enabled the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team to take the wave around and return to the lead circuit for the Lap 129 restart. Two laps later, Austin Dillon plowed into the Turn 2 wall to bring out the third caution which allowed Hamlin to pit and restart 15th. 

Harvick vs. Johnson

But on that restart, Jimmie Johnson dove low and made contact with Kevin Harvick entering Turn 1. Harvick, who was the control car and had led twice for 10 laps prior to the restart, noticed smoke from his tire and plowed into the Turn 3 wall four laps later. The defending Sprint Cup champion returned to the track on Lap 193, but finished 42nd and fell to 16th in the Chase standings.

After the race, things got physical between the two drivers when Harvick punched Johnson in the chest.

Hamlin restarted 11th following the fourth caution. He worked his way into the top five by the fifth caution on Lap 191 and took the lead for the first tim on Lap 240 during pit stops. After relinquishing the lead to pit, Hamlin cycled back into the top five with Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch battling out front. Kurt Busch had led 15 laps and built a four-second lead over the No. 24 car when NASCAR called the sixth and final caution on Lap 258 for debris. 

The winning call

Hamlin did not hear the directive in time to pit, so lined up behind Busch and Gordon as the other drivers on the lead lap came down pit road. On what Hamlin referred to as “a ballsy" move he passed Busch for the lead with his teammate Carl Edwards in tow. Although Edwards and Busch tangled initially, the No. 19 Toyota bested the No. 41 Chevy and Hamlin held the point for the final five laps.

“I’d been stuck so many times three-wide in the middle," Hamlin said. "The front cars almost have a disadvantage to the back cars the way it all plays out. We got a great restart and I just held it wide open through (turns) one and two and it stuck. We were able to get in that clean air and take off.”

Edwards' comeback was masterful as well. After speeding on pit road on Lap 52, he served a drive-thru penalty and dropped to 29th prior to recovering for a podium finish. 

"I didn't see in the front for a while, but looked like Kyle (Busch) was fast," Edwards said. "He had a really fast car there for a long time.  That gave us a lot of hope.  

"We knew if we maybe we get our lap back, get back up there, we'd be all right.  I had a speeding penalty.  I set us back there."

Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Aric Almirola rounded out the top 10 finishers in the myAFibRisk.com 400. 

For Hamlin, his 26th career victory tied him on the All-time win list with NASCAR Hall of Famer Fred Lorenzen, who attended the race on Sunday. He also moved into second in the point standings, two points behind teammate Kenseth. 

Pos	Driver	Team	Car	Time	Laps
1	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota Camry	2:51:30.0	267
2	Carl Edwards	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota Camry	+0.962	267
3	Kurt Busch	Stewart-Haas Racing	Chevrolet SS		267
4	Ryan Newman	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet SS		267
5	Matt Kenseth	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota Camry		267
6	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford Fusion		267
7	Kyle Larson	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet SS		267
8	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford Fusion		267
9	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota Camry		267
10	Aric Almirola	Richard Petty Motorsports	Ford Fusion		267
11	Jimmie Johnson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet SS		267
12	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet SS		267
13	Martin Truex Jr.	Furniture Row Racing	Chevrolet SS		267
14	Jeff Gordon	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet SS		267
15	David Ragan	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota Camry		267
16	Jamie McMurray	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet SS	+1 lap	266
17	Paul Menard	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet SS	+1 lap	266
18	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Roush Fenway Racing	Chevrolet SS	+2 laps	265
19	Clint Bowyer	Michael Waltrip Racing	Toyota Camry	+2 laps	265
20	Casey Mears	Germain Racing	Chevrolet SS	+2 laps	265
21	Greg Biffle	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford Fusion	+2 laps	265
22	Brian Scott	Circle Sport	Chevrolet SS	+2 laps	265
23	Justin Allgaier	HScott Motorsports	Chevrolet SS	+2 laps	265
24	Kasey Kahne	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet SS	+3 laps	264
25	Tony Stewart	Stewart-Haas Racing	Chevrolet SS	+3 laps	264
26	Danica Patrick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Chevrolet SS	+3 laps	264
27	Landon Cassill	Hillman Smith Motorsports	Chevrolet SS	+4 laps	263
28	Trevor Bayne	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford Fusion	+4 laps	263
29	Cole Whitt	Front Row Motorsports	Ford Fusion	+4 laps	263
30	Sam Hornish Jr.	Richard Petty Motorsports	Ford Fusion	+5 laps	262
31	Brett Moffitt	Front Row Motorsports	Ford Fusion	+5 laps	262
32	David Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford Fusion	+5 laps	262
33	Josh Wise	Go FAS Racing	Ford Fusion	+6 laps	261
34	Michael Annett	HScott Motorsports	Chevrolet SS	+6 laps	261
35	J.J. Yeley	BK Racing	Toyota Camry	+6 laps	261
36	A.J. Allmendinger	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet SS	+7 laps	260
37	Alex Bowman	Tommy Baldwin Racing	Chevrolet SS	+8 laps	259
38	Jeb Burton	BK Racing	Toyota Camry	+8 laps	259
39	Matt DiBenedetto	BK Racing	Toyota Camry	+9 laps	258
40	Reed Sorenson	Phil Parsons Racing	Ford Fusion	+9 laps	258
41	Timmy Hill	Premium Motorsports	Chevrolet SS	+12 laps	255
42	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Chevrolet SS	+58 laps	209
43	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet SS	+69 laps	198