Hamlin’s drought over with Southern 500 win
DARLINGTON, S.C. — Denny Hamlin held off Kyle Larson after their cars hit nose to tail flying to the finish line at Darlington on Sunday night in the Southern 500, the opening race of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
Hamlin won for the first time this season after entering the week seeded seventh in the 16-driver postseason field and vowing if he kept running strongly up front, he’d reach victory lane before the year ended.
“It’s as good a time as any, right?” Hamlin said afterward. “My favorite race of the year.”
The 40-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing driver looked like a comfortable winner before the top-seeded Larson charged up on his back bumper on the final turn, smoke pouring out of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet. But Hamlin held firm up near the wall to take the checkered flag
“He was going to have to go through me,” Hamlin said.
Hamlin came out second to teammate Martin Truex Jr. during a caution with 45 laps to go, then moved in front when Truex was penalized for going too fast in the pits. Hamlin broke out ahead of Larson on the restart 36 laps from the end.
The win was Hamlin’s fourth at Darlington and moved him into the round of 12 in the knockout format, winning a grueling race in which several playoff contenders struggled at the track “Too Tough To Tame.”
The past two Cup Series champions, JGR’s Kyle Busch in 2019 and Hendrick’s Chase Elliott last year, were in the garage before the race ended. Busch slammed the wall — to the delight of the large crowd back at Darlington — and drove straight to his hauler. Elliott was caught in a three-wide sandwich where he was next to the wall. He came away with tire and brake problems.
Larson was second for the third straight time racing at Darlington. Ross Chastain finished third, the only nonplayoff driver among the top eight.
Truex was fourth, followed by Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano, Chris Buescher and Austin Dillon.
Verstappen’s day
ZANDVOORT, Netherlands — Wearing the Dutch national flag like a cape, Max Verstappen felt like royalty as he stood atop the podium at his home race.
He treated his fans, including King Willem-Alexander, to a superb win at the Dutch Grand Prix. In the process Verstappen wrestled back the lead in the season-long Formula One championship chase from Lewis Hamilton, who finished second ahead of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas.
“Incredible feeling, of course, to win in front of the fans, because the king was watching with the royal family,” the 23-yearold Red Bull driver said. “Just an amazing day.”
After 13 races of a thrilling F1 title fight, Verstappen is three points ahead of Hamilton, who is seeking an eighth F1 title to move one ahead of Michael Schumacher and stand alone among F1 greats.
Verstappen is chasing his first F1 crown and will take some stopping, considering he leads Hamilton 7-4 for wins and 7-3 in pole positions. The only thing missing from Verstappen’s 17th career win was a bonus point for fastest lap, which went to Hamilton.
Verstappen’s winning margin of 21 seconds over Hamilton was exaggerated because the British driver had to pit again to wrestle back that point from Bottas. In a rare blip by Mercedes, Bottas was told to abort his bid for fastest lap, but it was too late and that forced Hamilton to retrieve it.
After the race, a jubilant Verstappen grabbed a Dutch flag and lifted it high toward his adoring supporters as they celebrated together.
“The expectations were high, and it’s never easy to fulfil that,” Verstappen said. “But I’m so happy to win here and to take the lead as well in the championship. It’s just an amazing day with the whole crowd.”
Verstappen’s devoted home fans turned the stands by the seaside town into an orange sea of bodies. Orange flares were lit, and feet were stamped as Verstappen turned to the crowd with a clenched fist after a clinical drive.
AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly placed fourth, ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Alpine driver Fernando Alonso.
Verstappen started from pole position for the sixth time in the past seven races.