Denny Hamlin Secures His 60th Victory in an Emotional Race in Las Vegas
In a race full of emotions and with tears in his eyes, Denny Hamlin took his sixth checkered flag of the season at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This victory, the 60th of his career, is a milestone that he dedicated to his father, who is facing health problems. Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner, and considered one of the best drivers without a Cup Series title, returns to the championship final for the first time since 2021. In addition, he is the most successful driver for Joe Gibbs Racing and now also for Toyota. The Virginia driver, tied for tenth on the NASCAR wins list with Kevin Harvick, couldn’t hold back the tears after an intense battle in the last ten laps. Hamlin beat Kyle Larson and his JGR teammate, Chase Briscoe.Hamlin, who was frustrated two weeks ago at Kansas Speedway for not achieving his 60th victory, achieved the triumph in Las Vegas. This victory, according to Hamlin, is the most important of his career, dedicated to his 75-year-old father, who introduced him to the world of motorsports. Hamlin, after a pit stop, restarted the race in fifth place and managed to move forward. He overtook Joey Logano and then Larson to finally take the lead from Briscoe. Chris Gayle, the new team leader, has achieved his biggest breakthrough in the playoffs, and Hamlin attributed the triumph to the adjustments made in the last pit stop. “I simply cannot imagine a bigger victory for me than this,” declared Hamlin. Joe Gibbs, moved by Hamlin’s dedication, expressed his emotion. Larson, seeking to break a streak of 20 winless races, finished second. Christopher Bell and Briscoe, both from JGR, finished third and fourth, respectively. Tyler Reddick, who races for Hamlin at 23XI Racing, was fifth, and the current Cup Series champion, Joey Logano, was sixth. Five of the top six finishers, with the exception of Reddick, are still competing in the playoffs. Chase Elliott finished in 18th place, William Byron in 36th, and Ryan Blaney in 38th. Byron, after leading the race, went off course and was overtaken by Larson. Later, he was involved in a crash with Ty Dillon, not knowing that Dillon was slowing down to enter the pits. “I never saw him make a signal, I had no idea he was going to pit,” said Byron. The four drivers with the worst results in the playoffs with two races remaining are Byron, Elliott, Logano, and Blaney. Blaney, who started the race second in points, suffered a setback in his title aspirations due to a tire issue that led him to hit the wall with nine laps to go in the first stage. Blaney, who is the current Cup Series champion, is in a “must-win” situation in the next race at the Talladega Superspeedway, where he has won three times. Tyler Reddick, despite being eliminated from the playoffs last week, continues to compete while his son faces health complications. Rob Edwards, former director of the Andretti Global IndyCar team, made his NASCAR debut this weekend in his new role. Edwards will take on the role of performance director for TWG Motorsports. The next NASCAR race will be on Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, where Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is the current winner.I am very happy that you were able to see victory number 60. That was very important to me.
Denny Hamlin
