There was a very short list of drivers whom NASCAR fans would have considered deserving winners of Sunday's Goodyear 400 Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway, and Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin problem wasn't one of the three drivers on it.
Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron started off the 297-lap race in dominant fashion, the likes of which not seen in the Cup Series in decades, by leading the first 243 laps around the four-turn, 1.366-mile (2.198-kilometer) egg-shaped Darlington, South Carolina oval.
23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick was able to take the lead due to smart timing with regards to tire strategy on a late pit stop, and on even smarter timing behind him was Team Penske's Ryan Blaney, who eventually ran down the No. 45 Toyota and took the lead with four laps to go.
But the second Kyle Larson spin of the day, this one after checking up and making contact with Bubba Wallace after Reddick made slight contact with the wall ahead, led to more pit stops and an overtime finish, and seemingly out of nowhere, it was Denny Hamlin who emerged victorious.
But Hamlin wasn't the biggest winner of the Goodyear 400.
Sure, Hamlin is now officially locked into the playoffs, which wasn't the case after his win at Martinsville Speedway, since there could still technically be more than 16 regular season race winners and thus more winners than playoff spots. But there was never any doubt that Hamlin would be in.
Even had he gone the rest of the regular season without winning, and even had there been more than 16 regular season race winners, Hamlin missing the playoffs would have been next to impossible. In the event that there are more winners than available playoff spots, the multi-race winners are locked in, and the tiebreaker among the single-race winners becomes points.
Hamlin was sitting in seventh place in the point standings, so he was not exactly in a position where he would have been at risk.
Now with two wins, he is indeed officially locked in, just as teammate Christopher Bell is following his own three-race winning streak earlier in the season.
The big winner this weekend was really Josh Berry.
The Wood Brothers Racing driver has not had things go his way since he won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway a few weeks ago. He has just one top 30 finish in the three most recent races, and his average finish during that stretch is 28.33.
Berry finds himself in 20th place in the point standings, far lower than the season's other two single-race winners (Byron in first and Larson in sixth).
So the fact that the Goodyear 400 did not produce a new winner was music to Berry's ears, even with his third DNF of the season. Now there is one less race remaining on the regular season schedule, and thus there is a smaller chance of there being more winners than playoff spots.
At this point, it kind of goes without saying that, if there do end up being more winners than playoff spots, Berry is a driver who would be in a bit of a precarious situation, given his rank in the point standings. Should it come down to a tiebreaker among single-race winners, he could very well end up being the odd man out.
Of course, he could eliminate this discussion entirely by finding victory lane for a second time, which is a very real possibility after it took him only five races behind the wheel of the No. 21 Ford to secure his first career Cup win.
But either way, he will have been quite relieved to know that there are still just five winners through eight races this season, and though he wasn't the one in victory lane at the "Lady in Black", he will have been perfectly okay with the No. 11 Toyota's second straight trip to the top spot.
Race number nine of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season is the Food City 500, which is set to be shown live on Fox Sports 1 from Bristol Motor Speedway beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, April 13. If you have not yet started a free trial of FuboTV, do so now and don't miss any of the action from the "Last Great Colosseum"!