RICHMOND, Va. – Denny Hamlin holds off Kevin Harvick for his first win of 2022. This was Hamlin’s fourth career win at his hometown track and 47th Cup career victory.
Playing his tire strategy just right over a long green-flag run, Denny Hamlin was able to run down and pass William Byron for the lead with five laps to go, then held Kevin Harvick off on the final lap to win the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond.
He made a pass for the lead in the final five laps of the race, battling side-by-side with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr., as the two tracked down Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron, who was running on older tires and trying to defend the lead.
Hamlin then had to stay ahead of veteran Kevin Harvick to take the trophy. This is the first victory of the 2022 season for Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing. Kevin Harvick finished in second place, 0.552 seconds behind Hamlin; Byron was third.
There were five caution periods for a total of 35 laps. Only 16 of the 37 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott leave Richmond tied for the championship lead with a 19-point advantage over third-place Martin Truex Jr.
Stage 1 Winner: Ryan Blaney of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner: Martin Truex Jr., of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Kevin Harvick (Started 7th, Finished 2nd / Running, completed 400 of 400 laps). Harvick earned his first top-five and third top-10 of the season with his second-place finish in the Richmond 400. It was his 16th top-five and 28th top-10 in 42 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Richmond. This was Harvick’s best finish so far this season. His previous best was a sixth-place drive on March 13 at Phoenix Raceway.
“Just proud of everyone on our Mobil 1 Triple Action Formula Ford Mustang for staying there and having a great strategy and doing everything they did all day,” said Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Mobil 1 Triple Action Formula Ford Mustang. “We kept chipping away at it and they had the right strategy to win the race and just wound up one short. We finally had a day when nothing went wrong. Cars have been fast. Had a shot there at the end. I wanted to be close enough with the white (flag) to just take a swipe at him (Denny Hamlin). The lapped cars there kind of got in the way and I lost a little bit of ground. Still a great day for us. Just hopefully a little momentum in a positive direction.”
Harvick’s 28 top-10s at Richmond are the most among active drivers. This was Harvick’s second straight top-10 at Richmond. He finished eighth in the series’ prior visit to the track last September. Since joining SHR in 2014, Harvick has only one finish outside the top-15 at Richmond. Harvick finished 10th in Stage 1 to earn a bonus point and seventh in Stage 2 to earn four more bonus points.
Briscoe earned his fourth top-15 of the season and his first top-15 in three career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Richmond. Briscoe’s 11th-place finish bettered his previous best result at Richmond – 16th, earned last September.
“We obviously had a really good starting position, but in the beginning, we fought a lot of balance issues and I think we fell all the way to 28th from fifth,” said Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang. “It wasn’t looking the greatest, but we just continued to get our car better. That’s definitely the farthest off we’ve been all year and to still be able to finish 11th is a good day. We got lucky and got a quick caution and were able to get the lucky dog, and from there, our car was actually driving pretty well and was able to drive up in the top-five at one point. We just tried the gambling strategy with the win already and it didn’t work out. To finish 11th, we probably could’ve run a little bit better if our tires had held on a little bit more, but after being 25th at one point and a lap down with about 200 to go, we’ll definitely take it.”
- Chase Briscoe (Started 4th, Finished 11th / Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)
- Aric Almirola (Started 10th, Finished 21st / Running, completed 398 of 400 laps)
- Cole Custer (Started 12th, Finished 22nd / Running, completed 398 of 400 laps)
SHR Points:
- Kevin Harvick (8th with 193 points, 48 out of first)
- Chase Briscoe (9th with 192 points, 49 out of first)
- Aric Almirola (11th with 184 points, 57 out of first)
- Cole Custer (26th with 105 points, 136 out of first)
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 on Saturday, April 9 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The race begins at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
