Truex Jr. had dominated what ended up being a very uneventful race – leading 228 of the 407 laps – and appeared to have his first win of the 2024 season well in hand when Kyle Larson got spun out with one lap remaining and sent the race into overtime.
All of the lead lap cars elected to pit for new tires under the caution and Hamlin beat Truex off pit road to lead the way on the restart.
Hamlin got a good jump on Truex to clear for the lead as Truex raced hard with Larson and Logano through Turns 1 and 2 before Hamlin edged Logano by 0.269 seconds at the checkered flag to secure his second win of the season.
After taking the checkered flag, an apparently upset Truex rammed into Larson entering Turn 1 and then bumped Hamlin’s car from behind three times on the cool down lap.
The win is the 53rd of Hamlin’s career and the fifth at his home track of Richmond.
“I’ve had the best pit crew all year long. I loved our chances," Hamlin said about going into overtime. "We still had Martin (Truex Jr.) – he was the deserving race winner there, but you give these pit crews an opportunity – this is what it is all about. You have to have your whole team put together – and they just killed it today.
“We were close all day long. We kept the leader right there close to us, but just couldn’t quite get there. It was so excruciatingly hard to pass. It made it really difficult – even with newer tires. I needed that kind of situation in the end to be able to win it.
"We have high aspirations this year and how many wins we can get, and this is putting us right on track."
Larson ended up third, Truex fourth and Chase Elliott rounded out the top five.
Completing the top 10 were Christopher Bell, William Byron, Brad Keselowski, Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick.
Stage 1
Larson took the Stage 1 win over Wallace when a late caution came out for a spin by Daniel Suarez. Alex Bowman was third, Truex fourth and Logano rounded out the top five.
With light rain still in the area, NASCAR had teams start the race on wet weather tires, marking the first time in history that sport raced competitively on an oval in damp conditions.
The track is a little damp, but #NASCAR is racing at @RichmondRaceway!
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) March 31, 2024
@NASCARONFOX pic.twitter.com/BHpVcD0jPX
During a competition caution on lap 30, NASCAR allowed teams to switch to slick tires without losing their position on the track.
Stage 2
Truex easily held off Josh Berry to take the win in an uneventful Stage 2. Logano was third, Larson fourth and Hamlin rounded out the top five.
Stage 3
Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, the lead lap cars all pit with Truex first off pit road. When the race returned to green on lap 241, Truex led Larson and Hamlin.
On lap 287, several cars, including leader Truex, kicked off a round of green flag pit stops to take on new tires and fuel and utilizing a two-stop strategy in the final stage.
The round of stops was completed on lap 295 when Bell was the last lead lap car to pit and Truex cycled back to the lead.
Bell was penalized for speeding during his stop and had to serve a pass-through penalty which left him back in 19th and one lap down.
Reddick and Chase Briscoe were among the first drivers to hit pit road with 67 laps to go and kick off a final round of green flag stops to take on new tires and fuel to make it to the end of the race.
Both Larson and Truex pit on lap 337 and Larson – who had the first pit stall thanks to winning the pole – passed Truex as the two returned to the track.
Truex, however, quickly got back around Larson and cycled back to the lead with 53 laps to go.
.@KyleLarsonRacin narrowly beats @MartinTruex_Jr in the race off pit road, but Truex has since fought back and retaken P1 on track! #NASCAR
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) April 1, 2024
@NASCARONFOX pic.twitter.com/BiPlSC5ZQG
With 30 laps remaining, Logano got around Larson to move into the runner up position, but he was still almost 3.5 seconds behind Truex, the leader.
Lapped traffic helped Logano close the gap to Truex down to under a second with 10 laps to go as Hamlin closed in from third.
With one lap to go, Wallace got into the back of Larson, who spun down the track and into the frontstretch wall to bring out the caution and send the race into overtime.
All the lead lap cars pit with Hamlin the first off pit road and he led the way over Truex and Logano when the race resumed.
| CLA | DRIVER | # | MANUFACTURER | LAPS | TIME | INTERVAL | PITS | POINTS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | D. HamlinJOE GIBBS RACING | 11 | Toyota | 407 |
3:14'42.116 |
10 | 46 | ||
| 2 | J. LoganoTEAM PENSKE | 22 | Ford | 407 |
+0.269 3:14'42.385 |
0.269 | 11 | 49 | |
| 3 | K. LarsonHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS | 5 | Chevrolet | 407 |
+0.628 3:14'42.744 |
0.359 | 11 | 51 | |
| 4 | M. Truex JrJOE GIBBS RACING | 19 | Toyota | 407 |
+0.640 3:14'42.756 |
0.012 | 11 | 50 | |
| 5 | C. ElliottHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS | 9 | Chevrolet | 407 |
+0.873 3:14'42.989 |
0.233 | 11 | 36 | |
| 6 | C. BellJOE GIBBS RACING | 20 | Toyota | 407 |
+1.154 3:14'43.270 |
0.281 | 12 | 36 | |
| 7 | W. ByronHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS | 24 | Chevrolet | 407 |
+1.520 3:14'43.636 |
0.366 | 11 | 32 | |
| 8 | B. KeselowskiRFK RACING | 6 | Ford | 407 |
+1.797 3:14'43.913 |
0.277 | 11 | 29 | |
| 9 | C. BuescherRFK RACING | 17 | Ford | 407 |
+2.110 3:14'44.226 |
0.313 | 11 | 32 | |
| 10 | T. Reddick23XI RACING | 45 | Toyota | 407 |
+2.114 3:14'44.230 |
0.004 | 11 | 28 | |
| 11 | J. BerrySTEWART-HAAS RACING | 4 | Ford | 407 |
+2.269 3:14'44.385 |
0.155 | 11 | 37 | |
| 12 | N. GragsonSTEWART-HAAS RACING | 10 | Ford | 407 |
+2.501 3:14'44.617 |
0.232 | 11 | 25 | |
| 13 | B. Wallace23XI RACING | 23 | Toyota | 407 |
+2.714 3:14'44.830 |
0.213 | 11 | 36 | |
| 14 | E. JonesLEGACY MOTOR CLUB | 43 | Toyota | 407 |
+2.772 3:14'44.888 |
0.058 | 11 | 23 | |
| 15 | R. ChastainTRACKHOUSE RACING | 1 | Chevrolet | 407 |
+2.888 3:14'45.004 |
0.116 | 11 | 25 | |
| 16 |
T. GibbsJOE GIBBS RACING
|
54 | Toyota | 407 |
+2.918 3:14'45.034 |
0.030 | 11 | 21 | |
| 17 | A. BowmanHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS | 48 | Chevrolet | 407 |
+5.844 3:14'47.960 |
2.926 | 9 | 28 | |
| 18 | C. BriscoeSTEWART-HAAS RACING | 14 | Ford | 407 |
+6.236 3:14'48.352 |
0.392 | 11 | 19 | |
| 19 | R. BlaneyTEAM PENSKE | 12 | Ford | 407 |
+6.438 3:14'48.554 |
0.202 | 10 | 18 | |
| 20 | K. BuschRICHARD CHILDRESS RACING | 8 | Chevrolet | 407 |
+7.410 3:14'49.526 |
0.972 | 10 | 17 | |
| 21 | T. GillilandFRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS | 38 | Ford | 407 |
+7.699 3:14'49.815 |
0.289 | 9 | 21 | |
| 22 | D. SuarezTRACKHOUSE RACING | 99 | Chevrolet | 407 |
+7.894 3:14'50.010 |
0.195 | 8 | 15 | |
| 23 | A. CindricTEAM PENSKE | 2 | Ford | 406 |
+1 Lap 3:14'46.264 |
1 Lap | 10 | 14 | |
| 24 | A. DillonRICHARD CHILDRESS RACING | 3 | Chevrolet | 406 |
+1 Lap 3:14'48.205 |
1.941 | 9 | 13 | |
| 25 | J. NemechekLEGACY MOTOR CLUB | 42 | Toyota | 406 |
+1 Lap 3:14'48.690 |
0.485 | 10 | 12 | |
| 26 | M. McDowellFRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS | 34 | Ford | 406 |
+1 Lap 3:14'48.913 |
0.223 | 9 | 11 | |
| 27 |
C. HocevarSPIRE MOTORSPORTS
|
77 | Chevrolet | 406 |
+1 Lap 3:14'49.546 |
0.633 | 10 | 10 | |
| 28 | R. PreeceSTEWART-HAAS RACING | 41 | Ford | 406 |
+1 Lap 3:14'49.622 |
0.076 | 10 | 10 | |
| 29 | T. DillonKAULIG RACING | 16 | Chevrolet | 406 |
+1 Lap 3:14'51.982 |
2.360 | 8 | ||
| 30 | D. HemricKAULIG RACING | 31 | Chevrolet | 405 |
+2 Laps 3:14'46.638 |
1 Lap | 11 | 7 | |
| 31 | K. GralaRICK WARE RACING | 15 | Ford | 405 |
+2 Laps 3:14'47.599 |
0.961 | 10 | 6 | |
| 32 | J. HaleyRICK WARE RACING | 51 | Ford | 405 |
+2 Laps 3:14'48.832 |
1.233 | 9 | 5 | |
| 33 | R. Stenhouse JrJTG DAUGHERTY RACING | 47 | Chevrolet | 405 |
+2 Laps 3:14'49.531 |
0.699 | 8 | 4 | |
| 34 | H. BurtonWOOD BROTHERS RACING | 21 | Ford | 405 |
+2 Laps 3:14'49.740 |
0.209 | 9 | 3 | |
| 35 |
Z. SmithSPIRE MOTORSPORTS
|
71 | Chevrolet | 404 |
+3 Laps 3:14'45.279 |
1 Lap | 11 | 2 | |
| 36 | C. LajoieSPIRE MOTORSPORTS | 7 | Chevrolet | 404 |
+3 Laps 3:14'50.426 |
5.147 | 10 | 1 |
