Denny Hamlin holds off Larson at Darlington, opens playoffs with Southern 500 victory

Posted on September 5, 2021September 6, 2021 by Reid Spencer

DARLINGTON, S.C. – Holding off regular-season champion Kyle Larson throughout a thrilling final green-flag run in Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, Denny Hamlin is winless in 2021 no more.

Hamlin maintained control of his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota as Larson buried his No. 5 Chevrolet into Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap. Larson gave Hamlin a tap, but Hamlin blocked the top lane and got to the finish line .212 seconds ahead of the runner-up.

“He drove it in past the limit of the car and tires,” Hamlin said of Larson’s banzai charge. “I knew he was coming. I was a little conservative on that last lap because I had that four-car-length lead.”

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

The victory was Hamlin’s first of the year after a winless 26-race regular season. He won for the fourth time at Darlington and for the 45th time in his career to earn an automatic berth into the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

“Yeah, it was a matter of time,” Hamlin said of the long-awaited win. “We can’t just keep leading inside 10 laps to go every week and not get a win.”

Hamlin kept Larson at bay over the final two restarts but couldn’t pull away to a comfortable lead.

“We got to the white (flag), and I was like, ‘Well, I haven’t been able to gain on him now, I’m going to try something,'” Larson said of the desperation try he labeled a “video-game move.” “Honestly, got to his bumper too quick. I was hoping he was going to run that diamond to kind of be safe and I could skirt to his outside, but gave everything I had.

“I didn’t want to wreck him. I just wanted to try to get to his outside there, but he did a great job not really making any mistakes during the last run, and I was having to push really hard in second to try and just stay with him.”

Larson led 156 of the 367 laps to Hamlin’s 146. Hamlin won the first stage and Larson the second.

Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. caught a break when Ryan Blaney spun in Turn 4 on Lap 318 while the two JGR drivers stayed on the track trying to stretch the cycle of pit stops. Truex beat Hamlin off pit road but was flagged for speeding, and Hamlin held the top spot the rest of the way.

Non-Playoff driver Ross Chastain finished third, followed by Truex, who recovered from the penalty and an earlier loose wheel to run fourth. Playoff drivers Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano were fifth through eighth, respectively, but for other title hopefuls, the race brought disaster.

Two-time series champion Kyle Busch suffered an early exit and a blow to his hopes of winning a third title. Contact with the No. 3 Chevrolet of Austin Dillon sent Busch’s No. 18 Toyota rocketing into the outside wall in Turn 2, causing irreparable damage.

Busch fell out in 35th place and now faces an uphill battle to advance to the Round of 12.

“It wasn’t the 3’s (Dillon’s) fault,” Busch said. “Just take our lumps, you know. We were running like (crap), and that’s what you get when you run like (crap). Shouldn’t be there.”

Three-fourths of the Hendrick Motorsports armada took a major hit as well. Alex Bowman scraped the wall on Lap 14 and stayed on the track, hoping to make it to the competition caution on lap 25. But a tire rub proved disastrous, sending Bowman’s Chevy into the Turn 4 wall, and damage the No. 24 Camaro of teammate William Byron in the process.

Bowman was able to continue and finished 26th, but Byron wasn’t as fortunate. After recovering to run in the top 10, Byron cut a left front tire on Lap 200, crashed hard into the Turn 1 wall and exited the race with a 34th-place finish.

“That was a big hit,” Byron acknowledged. “It looked like on that (previous) pit stop, it looked like we dropped the jack and the left front was still finishing up. I took off and everything felt OK. I went to pass the No. 00 (Quin Houff) or somebody down the frontstretch and was just about to turn into (Turn) 1 and the left front went down.

“There was nothing we could do. The guys did an awesome job to fix it. We were running like top-12, I think, even with all the (earlier) right rear damage, and it’s just terrible. I don’t know, man. That sucks.”

Reigning series champion Chase Elliott fell out in 31st place after slamming the outside wall on Lap 327 in a three-wide melee in Turn 1 with Bubba Wallace and Christopher Bell.

An early wreck put a dagger to Michael McDowell’s slim championship chances. On Lap 31, McDowell’s No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford broke loose behind Erik Jones’ Chevrolet in Turn 2, smacked the outside wall and careened nose-first into the inside SAFER barrier.

McDowell exited the race, his car destroyed and his title hopes hanging by a thread.

“The 43 (Jones) kind of got everybody jammed up,” McDowell said after exiting the infield care center. “I think he started on the front there without tires, which is a tough spot to be in, and I just went three-wide underneath him and just got into the patch (of new asphalt in Turn 2) with my left sides just a little bit low.

“I got loose enough into the wall and that was about it. I’ll have to see the replay, but just heartbreaking for everybody on this Front Row team. We had high hopes coming into the Playoffs and this is not how we wanted to start it.”

Bowman, Kyle Busch, Byron and McDowell fell below the current cut line for the Round of 12. Elliott leaves Darlington 10th in the Playoff standings.

The Cup Series’ next race is the Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders, scheduled Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Richmond Raceway. Two events remain in the three-race Round of 16, the opening elimination phase of the 10-race postseason.

Note: Post-race inspection confirmed the No. 11 Toyota of Hamlin to be the race winner. There were no issues. The Nos. 3 (Austin Dillon), 4 (Kevin Harvick), 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) and 42 (Ross Chastain) will be brought back to the R&D Center for further inspection and engine dyno.

Contributing: Staff reports

Posted on September 5, 2021September 5, 2021 by Staff Report

William Byron added his name to a list of NASCAR Cup Series Playoff drivers with issues in the postseason opener as he dropped out of contention after a Stage 2 crash Sunday at Darlington Raceway.

Byron’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet sustained minor damage in a Lap 14 scrape with teammate Alex Bowman, but he had rallied to compete among the top 10 in Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500. His night ended in the 200th lap of a scheduled 367 with a far heavier impact into the Turn 1 retaining wall.

Goodyear officials indicated that the left-front tire’s valve stem had been knocked off, causing Byron to lose control. Byron finished 34th in the 37-car field.

“That was a big hit,” Byron said after being cleared at the infield care center. “It looked like on that pit stop, it looked like we dropped the jack and the left-front was still finishing up. I took off and everything felt OK. I went to pass the No. 00 (Quin Houff) or somebody down the frontstretch, and was just about to turn into (Turn) 1 and the left-front went down. There was nothing we could do. The guys did an awesome job to fix it. We were running like top 12, I think, even with all the (earlier) right-rear damage and it’s just terrible. I don’t know, man. That sucks.”

Byron ranks 15th in the 16-driver playoff standings, nine points below the provisional elimination line. Two races remain in the opening Round of 16 before four drivers are trimmed from the postseason field.

Two other playoff drivers were sidelined in earlier crashes — Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell and two-time Cup champ Kyle Busch. Byron’s teammate Chase Elliott also went behind the wall with damage from a crash 40 laps from the end.

Posted on September 5, 2021September 6, 2021 by Staff Report

Which channels have NASCAR programming this week? We answer that and give the weekly NASCAR television listings here in the NASCAR TV schedule.

Note: All times are ET.

MORE: How to find NBCSN | Get the NBC Sports App | How to find FS1 | Get FOX Sports App

Monday, Sept.6
Midnight, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series In It To Win It 200, FS2 (re-air)
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
11 p.m., NASCAR Camping World Truck Series In It To Win It 200, FS1 (re-air)

Tuesday, Sept.7
1 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub Best of Radioactive: Darlington, FS1 (re-air)
5:30 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Wednesday, Sept. 8
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1

Thursday, Sept. 9
4 p.m., Lost Speedways: Animal House, NBCSN (re-air)
4:30 p.m., Lost Speedways: Concrete Palace on the Passaic, NBCSN (re-air)
5 p.m., NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Toyota Mod Classic 150, NBCSN (tape delay)
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
6 p.m., Dale Jr. Download, NBCSN/NBC Sports App

Friday, Sept. 10
6 p.m., NASCAR The Season, NBCSN
6 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
7 p.m., NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Virginia Is For Racing Lovers 150, TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold

On MRN
7 p.m., NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Virginia Is For Racing Lovers 150

Saturday, Sept. 11
2 a.m., Lost Speedways: Fit for a King, NBCSN (re-air)
2:30 a.m., Lost Speedways: Home Treasures, NBCSN (re-air)
1:30 p.m., Lost Speedways: Home Treasures, NBCSN (re-air)
2 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series Countdown to Green, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN5)
2:30 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series Go Bowling 250, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN5)
6:30 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN/NBC Sports App
7 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series Countdown to Green, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN5)
7:30 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders, NBCSN/NBC Sports App (Canada: TSN5)
8 p.m., ARCA Menards Series West Portland 112, TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold
11 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series Post-race Show: Richmond, NBCSN/NBC Sports App

On MRN
2 p.m., NASCAR Xfinity Series Go Bowling 250
6 p.m., NASCAR Cup Series Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders

Sunday, Sept. 12
4 p.m., IMSA Auto Racing: Monterey Sports Car Championship, NBCSN

Posted on September 5, 2021September 6, 2021 by Staff Report

Kyle Busch’s night in the playoff-opening Cook Out Southern 500 came to an early end Sunday after a Lap 125 crash at Darlington Raceway.

Busch’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota made significant contact with the outside retaining wall in Turn 2 after contact from the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet of non-playoff driver Austin Dillon. Busch drove away with heavy damage but parked in the garage to end his race.

“It’s killed,” Busch told his team over the radio communications as he limped back to pit road and brought his No. 18 behind the wall. He finished 35th in the 37-car field and now sits two points outside of advancing with two races left in the Round of 16.

After a routine check at the infield care center, Busch was critical of his team’s performance and also made a point to clear Dillon of blame.

“It wasn’t the 3’s fault. Just take our lumps, you know,” Busch said. “We were running like (expletive) and got wrecked, so that’s what you get when you run like (expletive). It just shouldn’t be there. I don’t know what our problem is, but every time we go to sim and use sim and think we have a good sim session, we go to the race track and we suck. So I’m done with that, and we’ll have to use some other tools in figuring out how to be good, but the M&M’s Camry was not very good and we’re running terrible and we got wrecked. It wasn’t the 3’s fault.”

Busch stands to gain back some of his lost ground in the Round of 16’s remaining races. He’s a six-time winner at Richmond Raceway, site of the Cup Series’ next race on Saturday night, and Bristol Motor Speedway — host of the last event before the first elimination phase — is a track where Busch has won eight times.

Busch found little consolation in the favorable schedule after his early exit at Darlington.

“Who cares?” Busch said. “We get what we get.”

MORE: Playoff Pulse: Darlington

Coach Joe Gibbs was celebrating at the end of the night with Denny Hamlin in Victory Lane for the first time this season, but the evening presented a mixed bag for the venerable team owner’s four-car organization. Martin Truex Jr. rallied for fourth place, Christopher Bell finished an eventful 20th and Busch brought up the JGR caboose.

But Busch wasn’t the only playoff driver exiting early after a crash; the same fate also hit Chase Elliott, William Byron and Michael McDowell, which kept a large group bunched up near the provisional elimination line.

“Well, I think everybody in the sport — he’s been through the Playoffs a number of times. We have, and it’s extremely tough,” Gibbs said. “You’ve got three races, it’s like the whole playoffs. The thing that probably helped us some, it seemed like a lot of cars that were in the (playoffs) had issues. And so I haven’t seen where the points are or anything, but this is going to be a hard-fought deal for the next two weeks. I think that’s probably what the fans like.

“But there’s going to be a lot on the line. As I mentioned, this race was — it was really tough tonight. It was physical.”

Posted on September 5, 2021September 5, 2021 by Staff Report

Michael McDowell was the first postseason-eligible retiree from Sunday night’s Cook Out Southern 500, his race ending after a Lap 31 crash at Darlington Raceway.

McDowell lost control of his No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford after close racing through a repaved portion of the track with Erik Jones in the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet. McDowell’s car scrubbed the outside wall exiting Turn 2 before careening into the inside wall on the backstretch, leaving it with heavy damage. He was unhurt, checked and released from the track’s infield care center.

“I’m not really sure,” McDowell said when asked for his version of events. “The 43 kind of got everybody jammed up. I think he started on the front there without (fresh) tires, which is a tough spot to be in and I just went three-wide underneath him and just got into the patch with my left-sides just a little bit low. I got loose enough into the wall and that was about it.”

McDowell, who qualified for the 16-driver NASCAR Cup Series Playoff grid by winning the season-opening Daytona 500, had said during the postseason’s media day that his team would have to be aggressive to advance through the elimination format. His early exit placed him last in the 37-car field for the playoff opener.

“I’ll have to see the replay, but just heartbreaking for everybody on this Front Row team,” said McDowell. “We had high hopes coming into the playoffs and this is not how we wanted to start it.”

McDowell sits last on the 16-driver playoff grid, 20 points below the elimination line with two races remaining in the Round of 16. His plight was actually helped by the misfortune of other title-eligible drivers, who failed to pad their cushion in the points. Chase Elliott, William Byron and Kyle Busch all retired early in separate crashes.

Two events remain in the opening three-race round — Saturday at Richmond Raceway and Sept. 18 at Bristol Motor Speedway. The four lowest-ranked drivers will be eliminated at the end of the Round of 16.

Posted on September 5, 2021September 5, 2021 by Staff Report

The No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet will drop to the rear for Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway for multiple failures in pre-race inspection. Austin Dillon was slated to start 21st in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff opener but will drop to the rear during pace laps.

RELATED: Darlington lineup | Darlington schedule

All playoff drivers made it through pre-race inspection without any issues. The race is set for 367 laps at the 1.366-mile track “Too Tough to Tame” and will be broadcast at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN, NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Posted on September 5, 2021September 5, 2021 by Reid Spencer

DARLINGTON, S.C. – Sheldon Creed completed the Darlington double on Sunday, extending his monopoly on the Round of 10 in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs.

Creed’s victory in the In It to Win It 200 at Darlington Raceway was his second straight in the series and his second straight at the 1.366-mile egg-shaped track, giving him a season sweep at the Lady in Black.

It was the third straight win in a Playoff race for the reigning series champion, who secured his title with a victory in the 2020 season finale at Phoenix Raceway.

“Way to start off the Playoffs,” said Creed, who led 104 of the 147 laps, won the second stage and beat runner-up John Hunter Nemechek to the finish line by .531 seconds. “Man, we started out our day really, really loose, and I was like, ‘Oh, no, we’re in trouble here.’

“The guys worked on it. The pit crew killed it all day.”

RELATED: Race results

Thanks to impeccable work by his over-the-wall crew, Creed seized track position and control of the race. He led the final 80 laps after regaining the top spot from Chandler Smith during a pit stop under caution on Lap 68.

“We’ve had a tough season, but we’re finding it at the right time,” said Creed, who won for the third time in 2021. “It feels so good to go back-to-back wins … Got to put the pressure on the other guys. I had really nothing to lose coming in, and we’ve got fast trucks.

“I had to work for that one. The KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) trucks were moving there in the short run. Even in the long runs, I thought they were better than us. Just track position — I could kind of go where I wanted when I was in front. If I got behind them, I was going to be in big trouble.”

With his second-place finish, Nemechek, the regular-season champion, clinched a spot in the Round of 8 on points. Eight other drivers are vying for the remaining six berths in the next round, heading for the Sept. 16 cutoff race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Zane Smith (ninth Sunday) and Chandler Smith (seventh) are the two drivers below the cut line entering the Round of 10 finale at Thunder Valley.

Stewart Friesen ran third in Sunday’s race and improved to fourth in the standings, two points behind third-place Matt Crafton (10th Sunday) and 33 above the current cut line. Todd Gilliland finished fourth at Darlington, followed by non-Playoff drivers Parker Kligerman and Grant Enfinger.

ThorSport Racing driver Ben Rhodes suffered the most severe damage to his Playoff chances after running into the back of Creed’s truck on an early restart, then spinning and hitting the wall in a three-car incident with Jack Wood and Kris Wright on Lap 67.

WATCH: Ben Rhodes gets sandwiched in Stage 2

Rhodes finished 34th, seven laps down, and dropped to fifth in the standings, 15 points above the cut line.

The race featured eight cautions for a total of 35 laps. There were four lead changes among three drivers, with Nemechek out front for 39 laps and Chandler Smith leading the remaining four circuits.

The series next races Sept. 16 in the UNOH 200 presented by Ohio Logistics at Bristol Motor Speedway (9 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Note: Post-race inspection confirmed the No. 2 Chevrolet of Creed as the winner. No issues found in post-race technical inspection.

Posted on September 4, 2021 by Davey Segal

It was a silky smooth night at Oswego Speedway for Ron Silk.

The Norwalk, Connecticut, native never ran worse than second throughout the Toyota Mod Classic 150, leading the field to green from the pole position and regaining that lead with 77 laps remaining en route to his first ever win at the New York 0.675-mile short track.

“Just a phenomenal car,” Silk said in Victory Lane following his dominant performance. “I went pretty hard there halfway through the race and said, ‘I’m sure there’ll be a caution and we’ll end up taking tires.’ Then with 20 to go I was getting a little nervous, like ‘did I save enough?’ But just a fantastic job by my guys. My car took a few laps to fire off on restarts. I was glad to not get one at the end there for sure.”

The win is Silk’s second of the season and second in a row, coming after the driver of the No. 85 machine bested the rest at Beech Ridge on Aug. 21. It’s also his fifth top-five finish of the season, third top-five in a row and 17th career win on the Whelen Modified Tour.

RELATED: Race results

While Silk was dominating up front, Matt Hirschman was putting on a show coming from the rear of the field. After being involved in a Lap 43 crash involving five others, Hirschman sustained significant left rear damage and pitted for repairs.

https://twitter.com/MartyCzekala/status/1434300515815460866

Restarting deep in the field, he went to work, slowly and methodically picking off cars one by one. With just under 30 laps to go, he re-entered the top 10. Fifteen laps later, he was inside the top five. Less than 10 laps later, he was all the way up to second behind Silk.

Hirschman settled for the runner-up spot, his second straight second-place finish (both to Silk in consecutive races) in his return to the track where he won earlier this season.

Bryan Bennett

“We made a charge, it looked like maybe a caution would come. But congrats to the No. 85. If he went the whole way and was still driving away from the rest of them, they obviously had a good car,” said Hirschman, who has an average finish of 1.6 and a worst result of second (three times) in five career Oswego starts. “We just had to overcome a lot that I wish we didn’t have to. Came home with a strong second at the end, but I like first better.”

If he were to have just a few more laps, Hirschman may have been able to get to Silk’s bumper and challenge for the win. But with no caution and lapped traffic to navigate, it didn’t happen.

“We would’ve eventually caught him and passed him probably,” he said. “But the race is 150 laps, I’m not going to make any excuses about it. I’m sure the longer it went the more it favored us, but it’s over.”

Justin Bonsignore came home third after leading more than 30 laps in the middle of the race, extending his top-10 streak to nine races. The result marks his fifth top five at Oswego, bringing his average finish to a whopping 3.2 in his six starts at the track.

More importantly, the two-time and defending champion expanded his points lead over Patrick Emerling, who struggled on the evening finishing 15th and two laps down.

“Obviously on that side of things, it was a good night for us,” Bonsignore said. “It’s getting down to crunch time as far as the points are concerned, so it gives us a little breathing room, but we’ll still have to race hard the next three (events).”

Doug Coby and Anthony Nocella rounded out the top five, with Bobby Santos III, Andrew Krause, Woody Pitkat, Kyle Bonsignore and Kyle Ebersole completing the top 10.

Unofficially, Bonsignore’s lead over Emerling in the standings now sits at 20 points with three races remaining on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule. Silk sits a distant third with Coby, Jon McKennedy and Kyle Bonsignore behind.

Up next for the Whelen Modified Tour is a trip to Richmond Raceway on Sept. 10 for the Virginia Is For Racing Lovers 150. It’ll mark the first trip to “The Action Track” for the tour since 2002 and 11th overall, dating back to 1990.

Posted on September 4, 2021 by Chase Wilhelm

DARLINGTON, S.C. — Despite scoring his best finish of the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series season on Saturday afternoon at Darlington Raceway, Harrison Burton wasn’t satisfied.

Burton crossed the finish line in second place behind race winner Noah Gragson after an overtime restart in the 152-lap race at the 1.366-mile oval. Burton’s teammate, Cup Series regular Denny Hamlin, appeared to have a strong grasp on the victory, but a caution on Lap 138 erased his lead over Gragson. Things went from bad to worse when the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing team of Hamlin was penalized for equipment over the wall too soon during the final round of pit stops during the caution period.

That gave Burton an opportunity to give Gragson a run, but it ultimately fell short.

“Bittersweet,” Burton said. “It’s hard to win and whenever you have a chance, it’s like I gotta take advantage of this. The 54 (Hamlin) had some problems, I don’t even know what happened, and that kind of opened the door for me and Noah. I just kind of didn’t walk through it.

“Something about second always sucks worse than anything else because you feel like you’re one move away or one run away from being in Victory Lane,” Burton added. “I think he (Gragson) was just better than us in (Turns) 1 and 2 and we were really strong through (Turns) 3 and 4. I just had to take some lines that I didn’t really want to take, just kind of the opposite of what he did to try to get there and loosen him up. Just kind of didn’t do my job getting up there.”

Before Darlington, Burton had four third-place results this season, coming at Daytona International Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway and Nashville Superspeedway. It also served as Burton’s ninth top five of the year.

Although a win slipped away, Burton was still proud of his team for overcoming the absence of crew chief Jason Ratcliff, sidelined because of COVID-19 protocols. The team has now produced four top-five finishes in the last six races with two races remaining in the Xfinity Series regular season.

“… Our whole team did a great job rallying together and everyone kind of pitched in to pick up the slack for Jason who’s sitting at home,” Burton said. “We’re all thinking of him and I really wish we could have won for him. Just wanted it real bad. Just frustrated, I guess.”

Burton’s interim crew chief, Dustin Zacharyasz, echoed his driver’s feelings about the second-place finish.

“Well, it’s actually a little disappointing to be right there with the green-white-checkered (finish) and feel like you have a better car and just can’t get it done is frustrating,” Zacharyasz told NASCAR.com. “I don’t have this big moral buildup, best finish of the year, I just want to win races. Didn’t get it done.”

“This team is capable of winning races,” he added. “We won quite a few races last year, so just trying to get back to that.”

With the playoffs in sight, Burton will use the Darlington result as more motivation to break into the win column.

“I just want to get this one back,” Burton said. “Make us work harder and be better.”

Posted on September 4, 2021September 4, 2021 by Reid Spencer

Fresh from the announcement of his return to JR Motorsports next year, Noah Gragson sped to victory at Darlington Raceway on Saturday, clinching a spot in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs.

After pre-race favorite Denny Hamlin was sent to the rear under penalty for an equipment violation during a pit stop under caution on Lap 139, Gragson grabbed the lead from Daniel Hemric on Lap 143 and held it the rest of the way.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Gragson‘s victory in the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200 at the 1.366-mile speedway was his first of the season, his first at Darlington and the third of his career.

After debris from a Hemric spin on Lap 144 caused the eighth caution of the afternoon and sent the race to overtime, Gragson surged ahead on the final restart and finished .218 seconds ahead of runner-up Harrison Burton.

Reigning series champion Austin Cindric ran third, closing to a single point his deficit to current series leader AJ Allmendinger, who finished 20th after pitting under the final caution because of a loose wheel.

“It‘s been way too long,” said Gragson, who celebrated by climbing the frontstretch catch fence with his team after climbing from his car. “I hate that the 54 (Hamlin) … something happened to him on pit road. It was pretty fun racing there.

“We made good adjustments on the pit stops … And like you said, it‘s been way too long. A lot of frustration this year, and things haven‘t gone our way, but we‘re getting some momentum when we need to, and I just can‘t thank everybody enough on this No. 9 team.”

Hamlin appeared headed for his sixth Xfinity Series victory at Darlington when teammate Brandon Jones spun off Turn 4 on Lap 138 of a scheduled 147. On the ensuing pit stop for new tires, Hamlin‘s crew was penalized for bringing equipment over the wall too soon, ending the driver‘s chances for a win.

Hamlin — making his first Xfinity Series start of the season — overcame early trouble, spinning out of the top spot on the final lap of Stage 1 while trying to work around the slower car of Carson Ware. That handed the opening stage win to Hemric, who rallied on fresh tires after his team remedied a loose spark-plug wire soon after the start.

Gragson took the checkered flag on Lap 152 at the end of the only overtime attempt. The victory marked his fifth straight finish of seventh or better.

Cindric took advantage of Allmendinger‘s late issue to set up a tight battle for the regular-season championship with two races left before the 12-driver playoff field is set.

RELATED: Xfinity Series schedule

“We did a solid job all day trying to execute but we weren‘t perfect,” Cindric said. “I‘m proud of what we gained today with the Snap-On Ford Mustang. It‘s definitely the best race I feel like I‘ve had at Darlington, just having the strength and not having too many weaknesses.

“As a team, that takes a lot of conversations throughout the week to try to get that right, so we righted a lot of wrongs for me at this race track today. I feel good about that.”

Justin Haley, last weekend‘s Daytona winner, finished fourth, followed by Kaulig Racing teammate Jeb Burton. Justin Allgaier, Tyler Reddick, Jeremy Clements, Myatt Snider and Alex Labbe completed the top 10.

There were eight cautions for a total of 41 laps and 19 lead changes among eight drivers. Hamlin, who finished 12th, led a race-high 43 laps. Gragson was out front for 40 circuits.

According to Cindric, the fresh strip of pavement in Turn 2 seemed to gain grip throughout the race but did not play a significant role in the outcome.

“Today when we showed up it was a construction site, and now it‘s a race track,” Cindric said. “That‘s the way I see it. It‘s dirty. It‘s new asphalt. We‘re the first cars to run on it. It gained grip throughout the day. It got cleaned throughout the day. It got more raceable throughout the day. I don‘t think it will be much of a story line tomorrow (in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race).”

The Xfinity Series’ next race, the Go Bowling 250, is scheduled next Saturday, Sept. 11 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Richmond Raceway. Just two events remain in the regular season.

Notes: Post-race inspection was completed in the Xfinity Series garage without major issue, confirming Gragson’s victory. NASCAR officials announced that the cars of the top four finishers would be brought back to the NASCAR R&D Center for further inspection and testing on the engine dynamometer. … Ty Dillon finished 13th as a late-hour substitute in the No. 02 Our Motorsports Chevrolet in place of Brett Moffitt, held out of Saturday’s race for medical reasons.

Contributing: Staff reports