Denny Hamlin goes back-to-back, winning Darlington Cup…

Denny Hamlin now has 56 career victories in the NASCAR Cup Series, but it was not a dominant showing like his Martinsville victory just one week ago. Driving a throwback scheme paying tribute to Carl Edwards, Hamlin earned his fifth win at the track 'too tough to tame', in a race that was ultimately won via pit road.

First, a well-timed caution mid-race netted Hamlin a lot of track position and put him up into the top five. He was able to lap within the top five for the remainder of the race, surging from third to first on pit road during the final pit stop of the event. In the end, Hamlin led just ten laps — in a race where William Byron was up front for more than 240.

"There's two people I really love right now: my pit crew and Kyle Larson. Had a little assist there, so thank you," said Hamlin, poke fun at what caused the final caution of the race. "Man, the pit crew just did an amazing job. They won it last week. They won it this week. It's all about them. Thanks Sport Clips. They have such a big deal here in Darlington, South Carolina ... We'll see you at Victory Lane."

This is the first time Hamlin has won back-to-back Cup races since the 2012 season. When asked if there would be any Edwards-inspired backflip, Hamlin laughed. "I'll pass. If Carl is here, he's more than welcome to jump off the car." Edwards also waved the green flag to officially start Sunday's race.

Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (Photo by: James Gilbert / Getty Images)

Byron and Blaney come up empty handed after stellar showings

Byron initially looked unstoppable, leading the first 243 laps unopposed. However, a round of green-flag pit stops halfway through the final stage completely changed the complexion of the race. Tyler Reddick, who pitted a few laps earlier than most of the leaders, ended up taking control with a comfortable lead. Byron was stuck behind Christopher Bell, while Ryan Blaney was flying, with the freshest tires after running longer than most others.

Blaney eventually ran down Reddick and the two briefly battled for the lead before Blaney got the upper hand. A quick chain of events that immediately followed completely changed the outcome once again. As Blaney passed Reddick, the 23XI Racing driver ran wide and pancaked the wall. Right behind him, Kyle Larson, who was running over 160 laps down after an earlier incident, checked up and spun off the nose of Bubba Wallace. As he crashed into the inside wall, it forced a yellow flag and pushed the race into overtime.

At that point, it all came down to pit road where Blaney's team had struggled all day. Again, he lost some spots, fall from first to fourth while Hamlin jumped into the lead. He lined up next the car he co-owns with Michael Jordan [Reddick], who was looking on anxiously from the pits. Hamlin proceeded to get a fantastic restart and that was essentially the end of it, leaving the rest of the field to sort it out for the lesser positions.

Byron fought his way back to second, Bell was third, Reddick fourth, and Blaney fifth. Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs, and Kyle Busch rounded out the top ten.

Cla	Driver	#	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points
1	D. HamlinJoe Gibbs Racing	11	Toyota	297	3:21'14.118		9	48
2	W. ByronHendrick Motorsports	24	Chevrolet	297	+0.597 3:21'14.715	0.597	9	56
3	C. BellJoe Gibbs Racing	20	Toyota	297	+1.108 3:21'15.226	0.511	11	39
4	T. Reddick23XI Racing	45	Toyota	297	+1.197 3:21'15.315	0.089	11	41
5	R. BlaneyTeam Penske	12	Ford	297	+1.634 3:21'15.752	0.437	11	43
6	C. BuescherRFK Racing	17	Ford	297	+1.833 3:21'15.951	0.199	11	38
7	R. ChastainTrackHouse Racing	1	Chevrolet	297	+2.006 3:21'16.124	0.173	9	30
8	C. ElliottHendrick Motorsports	9	Chevrolet	297	+2.191 3:21'16.309	0.185	11	29
9	T. GibbsJoe Gibbs Racing	54	Toyota	297	+2.256 3:21'16.374	0.065	10	32
10	K. BuschRichard Childress Racing	8	Chevrolet	297	+2.412 3:21'16.530	0.156	9	27
11	A. CindricTeam Penske	2	Ford	297	+2.689 3:21'16.807	0.277	9	29
12	Z. SmithFront Row Motorsports	38	Ford	297	+2.730 3:21'16.848	0.041	9	27
13	J. LoganoTeam Penske	22	Ford	297	+2.941 3:21'17.059	0.211	10	33
14	T. GillilandFront Row Motorsports	34	Ford	297	+3.073 3:21'17.191	0.132	9	23
15	D. SuarezTrackHouse Racing	99	Chevrolet	297	+3.251 3:21'17.369	0.178	10	22
16	T. DillonKaulig Racing	10	Chevrolet	297	+3.717 3:21'17.835	0.466	11	24
17	E. JonesLegacy Motor Club	43	Toyota	297	+3.770 3:21'17.888	0.053	11	20
18	A. AllmendingerKaulig Racing	16	Chevrolet	297	+3.805 3:21'17.923	0.035	9	20
19	N. GragsonFront Row Motorsports	4	Ford	297	+4.065 3:21'18.183	0.260	10	18
20	S. van GisbergenTrackHouse Racing	88	Chevrolet	297	+4.274 3:21'18.392	0.209	11	17
21	B. Wallace23XI Racing	23	Toyota	297	+4.406 3:21'18.524	0.132	10	25
22	C. CusterHaas Factory Team	41	Ford	297	+7.529 3:21'21.647	3.123	10	15
23	A. DillonRichard Childress Racing	3	Chevrolet	297	+8.050 3:21'22.168	0.521	9	14
24	J. HaleySpire Motorsports	7	Chevrolet	297	+8.865 3:21'22.983	0.815	10	13
25	R. Stenhouse JrHyak Motorsports	47	Chevrolet	297	+9.748 3:21'23.866	0.883	9	12
26	R. PreeceRFK Racing	60	Ford	297	+11.103 3:21'25.221	1.355	8	19
27	C. WareRick Ware Racing	51	Ford	297	+11.681 3:21'25.799	0.578	11	10
28	C. BriscoeJoe Gibbs Racing	19	Toyota	297	+12.313 3:21'26.431	0.632	10	9
29	M. McDowellSpire Motorsports	71	Chevrolet	297	+26.832 3:21'40.950	14.519	9	8
30	J. NemechekLegacy Motor Club	42	Toyota	297	+42.279 3:21'56.397	15.447	8	7
31	A. HillRichard Childress Racing	33	Chevrolet	296	+1 Lap 3:21'20.701	1 Lap	10
32	C. HocevarSpire Motorsports	77	Chevrolet	296	+1 Lap 3:21'25.726	5.025	10	5
33	B. KeselowskiRFK Racing	6	Ford	295	+2 Laps 3:21'22.472	1 Lap	10	9
34	R. Herbst23XI Racing	35	Toyota	295	+2 Laps 3:21'24.298	1.826	12	3
35	A. BowmanHendrick Motorsports	48	Chevrolet	280	+17 Laps 3:21'34.859	15 Laps	11	3
36	J. BerryWood Brothers Racing	21	Ford	194	+103 Laps 2:15'21.419	86 Laps	9	7
37	K. LarsonHendrick Motorsports	5	Chevrolet	122	+175 Laps 3:13'27.134	72 Laps	11	1
38	J. YeleyNY Racing Team	44	Chevrolet	30	+267 Laps 26'27.295	92 Laps	4	1