NASCAR Coca-Cola 600: Denny Hamlin wins big in double overtime

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NASCAR Coca-Cola 600: Denny Hamlin wins big in double overtime

Exclude NASCAR Cup Series‘May schedule was that Coca-Cola 600 in Concord, North Carolina on Sunday, where Denny Hamlin emerged victorious in the longest race of the season.

Here are the top moments from Charlotte Motor Speedway:

Green!

Hamlin led Sunday’s starting line-up, followed by Kurt Busch, Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch and William Byron, rounding out the top five spots.

First caution

At Turn 4 there was a big two car crash involving Ryan Preece, Chris Buescher and Noah Gragson.

Meanwhile, Josh Bilicki exploded into third after starting 32nd.

Third caution

The green flag was out again on lap 23, but it wasn’t long before Bilicki hit the wall hard on the driver’s side, joining Preece as the two cars came out just 33 laps into the crash clock for Preece’s team.

The third warning of the race came out when Daniel Suárez made a pass for the lead and chaos ensued. Kyle Busch was left with flat tires but suffered no major damage despite losing track position.

Follow the leader

After Toyota took the lead in Saturday’s qualifying, it was Chevrolet’s 1-2-3-4 with Suárez, Elliott, Alex Bowman and Byron in the top four. Hamlin was the first Toyota to finish fifth and Austin Cindric was the first Ford to finish sixth.

Another bites the dust

Corey LaJoie spun and crashed at Turn 2 – almost the same spot where he crashed on Saturday.

This put both Spire Motorsports cars out of the race.

Stage 1 done

Elliott fended off Tyler Reddick to win stage one – his third stage win of the season. Bell, Ross Chastain and Bubba Wallace completed the top five in the opening stages.

Spin off turn 4

The tragedy struck Wallace when he lost control at Turn 4 – but he was lucky and slid straight into his pits. That earned the sixth caution of the race before the green flag came out again on lap 132.

battle bus

Meanwhile, Kyle Larson continued to struggle on track, between hitting the wall, two pit lane penalties and a pit lane fire.

“I think it was the worst race of my life and we’re not even halfway through,” he said.

Yellow flags are flying

Cindric spun at Turns 3 and 4 and crashed hard into the outside wall after a left rear tire blew out, triggering another warning.

The crash interrupted a three-car lead battle between Kurt Busch, Elliott and Chastain, but it was a lucky break for Wallace, who got a free pass to get back on the lead lap after a spin to cause the previous one Caution.

The great!

A monster collision occurred at Turns 1 and 2 as Blaney, Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski were among those collected for the 10th caution of the race.

Stage 2 in the books

Suárez won stage two, followed by his teammate Chastain. Erik Jones came in third with some fresh tires followed by Chase Briscoe and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounding out the top five.

unlucky 13

Gragson penned the 13th caution of the night with a doozy spin.

Team Trackhouse prevails

Chastain emerged as the winner in the third period of the race as the final 100 laps of Concord began.

close of business

The green flag got out again with 93 laps remaining. Reddick got a nudge from Cole Custer to take the lead before Chastain regained the lead just past the four hour mark in this one.

Big accident on the front straight

Suárez spun in front of traffic and was hit by Todd Gilliland, and then Buescher spun into the wreck before flipping several times and landing headfirst in the grass.

That major collision earned a brief red flag with 53 laps to go and equaled the 16th caution of that race, the most-seen since the 2019 Coca-Cola 600.

home track

It was a back-and-forth battle in the final rounds, with Larson and Briscoe going toe-to-toe to the end.

Not so fast!

Briscoe tried to edge out Larson but couldn’t make it, and Larson retained the lead with three laps to go while Briscoe spun and brought out another warning, the 17th overall.

It was an eerily similar move when Briscoe attempted to dive bomb Reddick to victory on the final lap of the Bristol Dirt race, but it didn’t work and cost both Briscoe and Reddick the checkered flag.

Over time

Austin Dillon, Hamlin, Larson and Chastain were four wide for the lead and it ended with Dillon being flipped into the outside wall to set off another big pile that killed Dillon, Larson, Chastain and Custer.

double overtime

That headed into double overtime with Hamlin rounding out the top 10 after a wild night in NC with Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Briscoe, Bell, Reddick, Stenhouse Jr., Michael McDowell, Larson and Bowman.


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NASCAR - CUP - Coca-Cola 600 - 05/29/2022 NASCAR – CUP – Coca-Cola 600 – 05/29/2022

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