It has been a long wait for Denny Hamlin in 2021 but he finally made his first victory lane trip at the end of the regular NASCAR season. His win in the playoffs will earn him an automatic next-round place.
After a tough 4 weeks and around, he has again succeeded with a dominating win in his first NASCAR round of 12.
Hamlin dominated the latter half of the race on Sunday night. He paced the field on a green flag run and held off a last gasp effort from Chase Elliott, winning the South Point 400 held at the Motor Speedway at Las Vegas. It was his 2nd win this season and takes Hamlin to the last 8.
Hamlin did not face many challenges over the maximum distance of the green flag. But at the closing stage, Elliott got to within a fraction of a second. But Hamlin managed to hold him off despite the late surge and win with a measure of comfort.
Hamlin Elated To Be In NASCAR Last 8
He is now in the NASCAR last 8 rounds. Hamlin will be at ease against 2 of the bigger wild cards of the NASCAR playoffs; while the Talladega Superspeedway happens to be the upcoming Round of 12 race, the concluding one is the Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Hamlin was elated to be able to rest easy for the next couple of weeks. But he said that as a professional, he would prefer to go just as tough and try for a win.
The NASCAR Las Vegas race was mostly a green flag one. The race placed stress on pit strategy plus amplification of both mistakes and good execution.
Kyle Larson had looked good in the earlier period of the NASCAR event. But he lost track position as an alternative pit strategy did not turn out rightly. Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, and William Byron also faced pit-road issues.