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Denny Hamlin wins closest Daytona 500 ever after miracle move
Posted On Feb 24 2016
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Feb 21, 2016; Daytona Beach, FL, USA; NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin (11) celebrates winning the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
Denny Hamlin won the closest Daytona 500 in history, beating Martin Truex Jr.to the finish by less than six inches on Sunday. Hamlin led 95 laps, the most among all drivers in the field. Since he started racing for Toyota back in 2008, Hamlin has won 24 of his 27 career NSCS events, which is somethat that Toyota’s VP of marketing & performance Ed Laukes certainly recognizes. When Chesterfield native and Manchester High School graduate Denny Hamlin won the Daytona 500 Sunday, he fulfilled a childhood wish.
“If I won the Daytona 500, I would like it to come true on February 17, 1998”, a young Hamlin wrote. 010 seconds-roughly four inches – as the cars crossed the line in a photo finish. I said, ‘If I didn’t make a run, he was going to make a run just like I did.’ I went up there to block, he hit me so hard it shot me three cars forward.
The Daytona 500 win puts Hamlin at the pinnacle of the sport he fell in love with, which is still a surreal feeling for him. You can second-guess all day long, the only thing I could have done different was be more aggressive to the line. Toyotas swept the podium as Truex was second, and Busch third.
It was the first Daytona 500 win for Joe Gibbs Racing since Dale Jarrett beat Dale Earnhardt to the line in 1993.
“This was a team victory”, said Hamlin. He ended up 37th, 40 laps down. So I still remember what resonated my first time here in 2007, this moniker: the Great American Race. Just stay in a line and see what kind of speed we can run and we saw our cars were fast. Hamlin made his move with half a lap to go in the race, slipping under Kenseth and taking Martin Truex Jr. along with him.
Hamlin’s victory was his first at Daytona in 11 tries. The win was also the first in Cup for Hamlin’s crew chief, Mike Wheeler, who took over the team in the off-season.
“He’s a satellite team, but we definitely welcome him as a partner of Joe Gibbs Racing”. As they came around the final corner, Hamlin wasn’t sure how the final few feet were going to play out.
By the time it came to the end of the race, numerous pre-race favorites had raced themselves out of contention â including Dale Earnhardt Jr., who wrecked with 30 laps to go while struggling to get back up front. “The greatest advice I’ve gotten is that the schedule’s tough but to live in the moment; that this will live with you forever, so enjoy the week”. Once he did it, I swore I thought about doing it. Once I thought about doing it and didn’t do it, it was too late. I got it all right now and having fun. JGR driver Carl Edwards (No. 19 ARRIS Toyota) finished fifth, while the final JGR driver, two-time DAYTONA 500 champion Kenseth, settled for 14th.
“I don’t think I DVR’d the daggone race at home”, he said, laughing. “On paper it all looked good, but it’s up to the men and women in both of those shops to execute that collaboration”.
