DARLINGTON, S.C. — While Denny Hamlin celebrated his Darlington victory Sunday, the feeling of those further down pit road was much different.
“Just sucks,” said William Byron, who led the first 243 laps before finishing second. “It’ll sting to be this close.”
“That stings,” said Ryan Blaney, who lost the lead on pit road ahead of the overtime restart and finished finished fifth. “I really wanted to win here.”
Instead, it was Hamlin winning for the fifth time at this track and 56th time in his Cup career. And he did so without the best car.
“I told the team, the crew chief, I said don’t get offended when I debrief and say that we probably had an eighth-place car,” Hamlin said.
That won’t make Byron or Blaney feel any better.
It would be understandable if Byron was crestfallen after becoming the first driver since Jeff Burton at New Hampshire in 2000 to lead more than 210 laps to open a Cup race.
