Practice #1 : Darlington Raceway

• Thursday, April 3rd, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Throwback Weekend at Darlington is a highlight of the NASCAR schedule

The Goodyear 400 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway has become one of the most popular races on the NASCAR schedule for teams, competitors and fans with its “Throwback Weekend” theme at the venerable 1.366-mile one-of-a-kind track where cars and stars celebrate the sport’s previous eras.

A handful of drivers could certainly get into the spirit by reviving their current championship situation. And past Darlington race winners such as Brad Keselowski, Chase Briscoe, Joey Logano and Erik Jones would love to hoist their first trophy of the 2025 season – that’s the kind of throwback they want.

Keselowski is a two-time and the defending Spring race winner at Darlington – earning his first (and only) victory so far as a team owner, driving the No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford last April. Briscoe’s win last Fall was also significant – perhaps the most clutch performance of his NASCAR Cup Series career when he took the win in the regular season finale to earn a Playoff position.

Coming into the weekend, the 2012 series champion Keselowski is ranked an uncharacteristic 30th in the championship standings without a single top-10 nor lap led. However, he holds the highest average finish (6.4) in the last five Darlington races. And it is the first of three straight venues (also Bristol, Tenn. and Talladega, Ala.) where he is a multiple race winner.

Briscoe claimed the DAYTONA 500 pole position in his first outing driving the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. He is ranked 12th in the driver standings with three top-10s, but looking to land his first trip to Victory Lane with the new organization. A win this weekend would mark the first time a driver has won consecutive Darlington races since the track’s Honorary Pace Car Driver Greg Biffle did it in 2005-06.

Coming into the weekend, all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers are ranked among the top-five in the championship – led by DAYTONA 500 winner William Byron, who holds a 16-point lead on Homestead-Miami race winner Kyle Larson. Chase Elliott, the 2020 series champion, is third, 32 points behind Byron and Alex Bowman is ranked fifth, only 35 off Byron’s pace.

Byron and Larson swept the 2023 races at Darlington and Larson holds the highest driver rating (108.1) at the track. The 2021 series champ Larson has seven top-five and nine top-10 finishes and will be driving a throwback No. 5 paint scheme this week honoring another former Hendrick champion, NASCAR Hall of Famer Terry Labonte.

Last week’s Martinsville (Va.) Speedway winner, JGR’s Denny Hamlin is also expected to be a major player at Darlington, where his wins (four), runner-up finishes (four), top-fives (13), top-10s (18) and average finish (8.2) are all top-marks in the series among active drivers.

A victory for Hamlin’s JGR teammate, Christopher Bell – who’s earned three trophies already this season – would make him the first driver since NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon in 1997 to win four of the first eight races. And Bell is coming off his career best work at Darlington – third in last Fall’s race.

Add to the mix, reigning series champion, Joey Logano. He has led 260 laps (second this season only to Hamlin’s 298) but still hasn’t recorded a top-five finish. The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford won at Darlington in 2022.

The last nine Darlington races have been won by nine different drivers and the record for that mark is 11 (2006-16). Interestingly, the driver who led the most laps has finished 25th or worse in four of the last five races.

“I think over-aggression is kind of over-blown at Darlington, especially with this car, you can be pretty aggressive,” Byron said. “You’ve got to be aggressive at Darlington now to get clean air and stay up towards the front. You’ve got to be good on the long run, so however you manage that, whether set-up or driver input. You can’t afford to just kind of ride around in this car at Darlington anymore. It’s going to be a lot like Homestead where you’ve got to be able to ride the fence and be good in all the lanes.

• Darlington Raceway
• Goodyear 400
• Busch Pole Award Pole Winner: William Byron
• Age: 27
• Team : No 24 - Axalta Chevrolet
• Owner: Rick Hendrick
• Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
• William Byron won the Pole Award for the Goodyear 400 with a lap of 28774 seconds, 170904 mph
• This is his 15th pole in 260 NASCAR Cup Series races
• This is his second pole and sixth top-10 start in 2025
• This is his second pole in 14 races at Darlington Raceway
• Ryan Preece (second) posted his first top-10 start of 2025 and his second in 11 races at Darlington Raceway
• Denny Hamlin (third) posted his 20th top-10 start at Darlington Raceway It is his fourth in eight races this season
• Riley Herbst (32nd) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Sunday, April 6th, 2025
• NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain

Lightning-fast stop at Darlington nets Denny Hamlin second-consecutive victory

A perfectly-executed overtime restart by Denny Hamlin following a clutch final pit stop by his Joe Gibbs Racing crew provided exactly the advantage the veteran needed to claim the trophy in Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

Hamlin took the race lead out of the pits during the final late race caution then bested the field on the ensuing restart, pulling his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota out front and ultimately to a .597-second victory over the day’s most dominant driver, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron.

It’s the second-consecutive victory for Hamlin, who won last week at Martinsville, Va. and marks the first time he’s won back-to-back races since 2012 when he won at Bristol, Tenn. then Atlanta the following week.

All smiles as he climbed out the car, Hamlin gave all the credit to his pit crew. He was third place at the time of the final caution – the yellow coming out for Byron’s Hendrick teammate Kyle Larson’s spin. The leaders seized the chance to pit for fresh tires in anticipation of the overtime restart and Hamlin’s crew got him out of the pits first – ahead of 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick and Byron.

A perfect launch on the ensuing green flag gave Hamlin the victory over Byron, who led a race best 243 of the 297 laps. It is Hamlin’s 56th career win, breaking a tie with NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace for 11th place on NASCAR’s all-time wins list.

“There’s two people I really love right now, my pit crew and Kyle Larson,’’ the 44-year-old Virginian Hamlin said with a grin. “Had a little assist there, so thank you.

“The pit crew just did an amazing job. They won it last week [at Martinsville]. They won it this week. It’s all about them.’’

It was obviously a tough ending to a career day for Byron, who rallied to the runner-up finish on the final restart but had absolutely dominated the early race, leading the opening 243 laps and claiming both Stage 1 and Stage 2 victories. It was the most laps Byron has ever led in a single race.

“First off, just really proud of my team to bring that level of effort and preparation and have a car like that and us execute like that, it was looking like we were going to have a perfect race and we were going to lead every lap,’’ the 2025 DAYTONA 500 winner Byron said.

“So, I was really proud of that. Those guys could just be aggressive on the other side of the green flag cycle and we just lost control and once we lost control it was too late to get back up there.

“It sucks and I’m sure it will sting tonight, but there are still a lot of positives. It just stings in the moment for sure.’’

Hamlin’s JGR teammate Christopher Bell finished third in the No. 20 Toyota after an amazing rally forward from a 20th place starting position. Reddick finished fourth in the 23XI Racing Toyota, co-owned by Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan.

Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney finished fifth. It is the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion’s first top-five at the 1.366-mile historic track, but the result still stings as Blaney had just taken the race lead moments before the final caution came out with only three laps of regulation remaining.

“Oh no,’’ Blaney conceded of his thoughts when the yellow flag flew.

“I thought we had the race won. I don’t really know I’ll have to watch a replay and see how the yellow came out and watch it back. But we did a great job and great strategy call of running long.

“Great call and just really fast but never got to really control the race,’’ he added … I feel like nothing really went our way. Pit road we’ve got to work on a little bit. Caution coming out during the cycle set us way back and I feel like we kept making up spots. Really proud of the 12 folks for giving me a fast car. Just wasn’t meant to be. I really would have liked to have won here. That would have been really neat. Proud of the effort and we’ll keep plugging along.’’

Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher finished sixth, followed by Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, Hendrick’s Chase Elliott, JGR’s Ty Gibbs and Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch. It was a season-best effort for Gibbs.

Byron’s runner-up showing keeps him in the NASCAR Cup Series championship lead now by 49 points over Hamlin and 52 points over Bell. It’s a different look atop the standings, where all four Hendrick Motorsports cars were ranked among the top five.

Hendrick’s Chase Elliott finished eighth Sunday and is now fourth in the standings, 59 points back. Larson dropped to sixth place after finishing 37th of the 38 cars Sunday. Bowman is now ranked 10th with a 35th place showing at Darlington.

• Drivers Entered: 38
• Laps Scheduled: 293
• Laps Actual: 297 - NASCAR OVERTIME!
• Margin of Victory: 0.597 Seconds
• Time of Race: 3 Hours 21 Minutes 14 Seconds
• Average Speed: 120.965
• Cautions: 8 for 45 laps
• Lead Changes: 4
• Green Flag Passes: 2,966 (11.8 passes per green flag lap)

• Darlington Raceway
• Goodyear 400
• Race Winner: Denny Hamlin
• Age: 44
• Team : No 11 - Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota
• Owner: Joe Gibbs
• Crew Chief: Chris Gayle
• Denny Hamlin won the Goodyear 400, his 56th victory in 694 NASCAR Cup Series races He breaks a tie with Rusty Wallace for 11th on the all-time Cup Series wins list
• This is his second victory and fifth top-10 finish in 2025
• This is his fifth victory and 19th top-10 finish in 26 races at Darlington Raceway
• William Byron (second) posted his seventh top-10 finish in 14 races at Darlington Raceway It is his fifth top-10 finish in 2025
• Christopher Bell (third) posted his fourth top-10 finish in 12 races at Darlington Raceway
• Shane Van Gisbergen (20th) was the highest finishing rookie
• William Byron leads the point standings by 49 points over Denny Hamlin