Denny Hamlin brought the greatest day in motorsports to a close by winning a grueling, record-setting NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Sunday (May 29), the racing started just past 10 a.m. ET at the Monaco Grand Prix, but almost 15 hours, six time zones and more than 1,200 miles of racing later, the driver of the No. 11 persevered through a pair of overtime finishes.
His first Coca-Cola 600 victory is Hamlin’s second win of the year and the 48th of his career and came in a race of serious attrition that broke the record for longest distance of a Cup Series race. Hamlin started on pole but only retook the lead late, making a four-wide move to the bottom as Austin Dillon, Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain crashed in the first attempt at overtime. Hamlin then battled his teammate Kyle Busch in the second overtime, emerging on top after a record-setting 413 laps.
Kyle Larson dominated to win this race last year, but before halfway he had already written off 2022’s edition as “the worst race of [his] life.”
He started from the back after unapproved adjustments following a practice crash. He hit the wall twice early, suffered three pit road penalties and a spin and his car caught on fire.
“We’ve 𝙇𝙄𝙏𝙀𝙍𝘼𝙇𝙇𝙔 caught on fire.” @DanielsCliff out here pumping his driver and crew up! 🔊 pic.twitter.com/DcBHV1AGh5
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 30, 2022
After a motivational speech for the ages from crew chief Cliff Daniels, and a race of attrition that saw more than half the field fail to finish, the defending Cup Series champion took the lead with just 48 laps to go.
But Chase Briscoe spent 46 laps reeling Larson back in. He tried a slide job with five to go, but Larson held strong on the outside. With two to go in the regulation distance, Briscoe threw it deep into turn 2, and for the second time since Easter, the No. 14 went spinning to the inside of the leader, setting up the first attempt at NASCAR…
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