NASCAR: Denny Hamlin wins as Kyle Busch wrecks Chase Elliott

Denny Hamlin secured his second victory of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season in a rain-shortened Toyota 500 at Darlington Raceway after Kyle Busch wrecked Chase Elliott to end green flag competition.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin secured his second victory of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season and his third at Darlington Raceway by winning the second race at “The Lady in Black” this week, the Toyota 500.

This race was initially scheduled to be a 228-lap race around the four-turn, 1.366-mile (2.198-kilometer) egg-shaped oval in Darlington, South Carolina, but it was shortened to 208 laps due to rain.

Rain caused the race to be delayed initially from its 6:00 p.m. ET start time to 7:50 p.m. ET. Ironically, the race was originally slated to begin at 7:30 p.m. ET, but NASCAR moved up the start time to try to combat the threat of rain.

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Hamlin, who won the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in mid-February, held off teammate Kyle Busch to secure the victory, but it was Busch who found himself in the spotlight after the race ended, not Hamlin.

Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott had been the race leader before a late caution flag sent most of the field into the pits. Elliott restarted in sixth place and worked his way up to third place. He had the momentum to pass Busch’s #18 Toyota for second coming down the front straightaway before Busch came up the track several car widths and simply turned into him.

Busch admitted that he made a misjudgment.

So instead of potentially winning the race behind the wheel of the #9 Chevrolet, especially with Hamlin on old tires, Elliott was scored in 38th place ahead of only race JTG Daugherty Racing’s Ryan Preece, who started the race from the pole position but was knocked out of contention after just 69 laps.

There was no more green flag racing after this incident, which netted the #11 Toyota its second victory of the season.

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick, who won this past Sunday’s race at the track “Too Tough To Tame”, finished in third place in his #4 Ford ahead of Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski in fourth in his #2 Ford. Joe Gibbs Racing placed three cars in the top five, as Erik Jones finished in fifth in his #20 Toyota.

Team Penske’s Joey Logano, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola, Hendrick Motorsports’ Jimmie Johnson, Wood Brothers Racing’s Matt DiBenedetto and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top 10, finishing in sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th place in their #22 Ford, #10 Ford, #48 Chevrolet, #21 Ford and #19 Toyota, respectively.

The race featured 17 lead changes among 13 leaders. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Clint Bowyer led a race-high 71 laps and won both stage one and stage two, but he was involved in a late wreck and ended up finishing in 22nd place. Hamlin led just 12 laps en route to the victory.

The other 11 lap leaders were Harvick, Keselowski, Jones, Logano, Truex, Roush Fenway Racing’s Ryan Newman, Richard Petty Motorsports’ Bubba Wallace, Germain Racing’s Ty Dillon, Gaunt Brothers Racing’s Daniel Suarez, Premium Motorsports’ Brennan Poole and Elliott. Preece started the race from the pole position but did not lead any laps.

The race also featured a whopping 11 caution flag periods, including one planned competition caution and the two planned caution flag periods to end the first two stages. Of the 39 drivers who competed in the race, 37 finished it and 23 finished on the lead lap.

Here are the full race results of the 2020 Toyota 500 at Darlington Raceway.

Race results
1st – Denny Hamlin
2nd – Kyle Busch
3rd – Kevin Harvick
4th – Brad Keselowski
5th – Erik Jones
6th – Joey Logano
7th – Aric Almirola
8th – Jimmie Johnson
9th – Matt DiBenedetto
10th – Martin Truex Jr.
11th – Christopher Bell
12th – William Byron
13th – Tyler Reddick
14th – Ryan Newman
15th – Kurt Busch
16th – Bubba Wallace
17th – Michael McDowell
18th – Alex Bowman
19th – Ty Dillon
20th – Austin Dillon
21st – Ryan Blaney
22nd – Clint Bowyer
23rd – Chris Buescher
24th – Corey LaJoie
25th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
26th – Quin Houff
27th – Daniel Suarez
28th – J.J. Yeley
29th – Joey Gase
30th – Matt Kenseth
31st – Cole Custer
32nd – Gray Gaulding
33rd – Timmy Hill
34th – Garrett Smithley
35th – John Hunter Nemechek
36th – B.J. McLeod
37th – Brennan Poole
38th – Chase Elliott
39th – Ryan Preece

The next race on the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Coca-Cola 600, which is scheduled to take place as initially planned even before the coronavirus pandemic. It is set to be broadcast live on Fox beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET from Charlotte Motor Speedway.