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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Auto Racing: Denny Hamlin proves too tough to catch in Richmond

Hamlin
Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. – Denny Hamlin returned from last week’s injury-shortened weekend and led almost from start to finish Friday night to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Richmond International Raceway.

Hamlin led the first 154 laps after starting on the pole. He relinquished the lead for one lap to Brian Scott during a series of green-flag pit stops, and to Elliott Sadler during another green flag stop late in the race, but both times regained the lead on the following lap. The Virginia driver routinely built leads of several seconds on the 0.75-mile oval and won by 3.719 seconds.

The victory is Hamlin’s 12th in the series and third at Richmond. Following up on Kyle Busch’s wire-to-wire victory for Joe Gibbs Racing in the series last September, the JGR teams have led 498 of the last 500 laps run in the series at RIR.

The victory also capped a remarkable return for Hamlin, who started the race last weekend, then turned the car over to NASCAR novice Erik Jones during a rain-delay because he was complaining of neck and back pain. He pronounced himself “100 percent” at the track just 15 miles from where he grew up, and qualified second for Saturday night’s Sprint Cup race.

The race also was the second dominant performance in the series in a row, Joey Logano having led wire-to-wire last weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.

“I know what it feels like to be on the other side of the butt-whooping now,” Logano joked afterward. He started second and ran in the top five all night, but said “We were just a second-place car. Straight up, that’s where we were. I couldn’t catch him.”

Regan Smith finished third, followed by Jones and Chase Elliott.

Later, NASCAR announced three pit road crew members were taken to a hospital after a fire broke out on pit road during the Xfinity race.

Two of the crew members were working in Brendan Gaughan’s pit, where the fire erupted, and one was in Eric McClure’s pit.

There was no additional information about the extent of their injuries, or what sparked the fire.

Sprint Cup

Joey Logano won the pole position for tonight’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race.

The Daytona 500 winner turned a fast lap at 127.071 mph in the third round on the 0.75-mile oval. He easily edged Denny Hamlin for the top spot.

Hamlin’s best lap in the final round came at 126.796 mph. The second row has Kurt Busch and A.J. Allmendinger.

The pole is the season-best third of the season for Logano in nine races.