TALLADEGA, Ala. – Staying back helped Denny Hamlin finally return to the front.
One of the most successful drivers during the 2020 regular season, Hamlin put himself in position to win for the first time in this year’s NASCAR Cup Series playoffs by avoiding the battles for the lead Sunday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway. Ultimately, it kept him out of the carnage of the messiest and longest race in the history of a track with a reputation for frequent and spectacular crashes.
Hamlin’s sweeping three-wide pass in triple overtime brought an end to the sloppiest race of the season. He surged to the win coming out of the final turn, the 58th lead change of a race that went nearly 32 miles, or 12 laps, longer than scheduled.
Talladega was pocked with 13 cautions, two more than the record, and nearly every title contender had some sort of damage. Only six of the 12 drivers currently in the playoff field made it to the finish.
Hamlin insisted lagging the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota at the back of the field all day, waiting to pounce at the end, was his strategy all along. Either that, or he was simply the last driver standing when given the chance to snap a skid that started with the playoffs one month ago.