Analysis: Hamlin’s Darlington win a true throwback

RELATED: Full race results Darlington Raceway's third annual throwback weekend was old-school everywhere one looked. The paint schemes were the most pronounced evidence that NASCAR had stepped back in time, to the 1980s to be precise, but plenty more caught the eye. The pit crews wore old fire suits, Brad Keselowski donned a Rusty Wallace-inspired wig and NBC's fleet of reporters dressed like Madonna and characters on "Miami Vice." RELATED: See all the weekend photos The most old-school element of the weekend, though, was the man standing in Victory Lane after winning the Bojangles' Southern 500: Denny Hamlin. On throwback weekend, Hamlin delivered a throwback performance that may go down as a defining weekend in his career. First, there was his win Saturday in the NASCAR XFINITY Series race. His crossover move on Joey Logano to reclaim the lead coming out of Turn 4 on the final lap reminded the driver of a certain seven-time premier series champion. "That was a throwback to Dale Earnhardt," Hamlin said after the race. Then there was Sunday in the Bojangles' Southern 500. Hamlin, in a paint scheme that honored Ray Hendrick, missed pit road when he attempted to come in for service on Lap 314 (of 367). That forced him to jam on the brakes, skirt past the inside wall, get back up to speed and take an additional lap around Darlington before pitting successfully. His chances blown, right? Not quite. Hamlin rallied in a manner that all drivers can appreciate, but perhaps most particularly the ones who used to wrench on their own cars in their own garages. "I drove my ass off," he said, evidenced by the manner in which he celebrated with his crew and by the way he looked in Victory Lane afterward. Elbows up, he methodically tracked Martin Truex Jr. down through lapped traffic, caught him, tailed him and eventually passed him when Truex Jr. cut a tire with two laps remaining. That bright-red paint scheme that shone on his No. 11 Toyota told quite the throwback story on Sunday. But not as much as the man who wheeled it improbably to Victory Lane.