Denny Hamlin wins rain shortened race at Darlington: Denny Hamlin became the season’s second multi-time winner, the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota earning the rain-abbreviated Toyota 500 NASCAR Cup Series victory Wednesday night at Darlington Raceway. This year’s Daytona 500 winner Hamlin took the lead during a late race caution – opting to stay on track while most of the other front-runners pitted for fresh tires. Hamlin held off the field on the ensuing restart with 29 laps remaining and was out front when the final yellow flag came out for an incident directly behind him involving reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch and the sport’s Most Popular Driver, Chase Elliott.[Read More](5-20-2020)
Paint Schemes
#11-Denny Hamlin won the rain-shortened Toyota 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway. The win is his 2nd win of the year, 3rd win at Darlington and 39th career win.
#18-Busch finished 2nd followed by #4-Harvick, #2-Keselowski, #20-Jones, #22-Logano, #10-Almirola, #48-Johnson, #21-DiBenedetto, and #19-Truex, Jr.
The race was the first Cup race held on a Wednesday night since the Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 4, 1984.
The race was called with 20 laps remaining.
The caution came out with 35 laps remaining when #14-Bowyer spun. Most of the field pitted, but #11-Hamlin and #21-DiBenedetto stayed out. The race went back to green with 29 laps to go. On the following lap, #18-Busch got into the left rear of #9-Elliott and sent him spinning into the inside wall. Elliott exited the car and flipped Busch off as the field passed by him. Then the rain began. The red flag came out and the race could not be restarted.Pole sitter #37-Preece lost an engine early in the race and finished 39th.
#14-Bowyer won both Stage 1 & Stage 2, but spun with 35 laps to go while running in the top 5. He finished 22nd.
There were 17 lead changes among 13 drivers and 11 cautions for 54 yellow flag laps.
The average speed of the race was: 104.984mph.
See race details at: Race Results, Drivers Points Standings, Owners Points Standings, Cumulative Report, Penalty Report.
Race Fast Facts – Darlington:
Denny Hamlin won the Toyota 500, his 39th victory in 512 NASCAR Cup Series races.
This is his second victory (Daytona, Darlington) and third top-10 finish in 2020.
This is his third victory (2010, 2017, 2020) and 12th top-10 finish in 16 races at Darlington Raceway.
Kyle Busch (second) posted his 11th top-10 finish in 17 races at Darlington Raceway. It is his third top-10 finish in 2020.
Kevin Harvick (third) posted his 13th top-10 finish in 25 races at Darlington Raceway. Continues his streak of of finishing in the top-10 in all six races this season.
Christopher Bell (11th) was the highest finishing rookie.
Kevin Harvick leads the point standings by 2 points over Joey Logano.
(NASCAR)(5-20-2020)
Cup Series Playoff Standings after Darlington (May 20):
1) #22-Joey Logano [2 wins], 224pts
2) #11-Denny Hamlin [2 win], 201
3) #4-Kevin Harvick [1 win], 258
4) #88-Alex Bowman [1 win], 219
5) #9-Chase Elliott, 192
6) #2-Brad Keselowski, 191
7) #10-Aric Almirola, 186
8) #19-Martin Truex, Jr., 179
9) #21-Matt DiBenedetto, 170
10) #14-Clint Bowyer, 170
11) #12-Ryan Blaney, 168
12) #48-Jimmie Johnson, 161
13) #18-Kyle Busch, 157
14)#1-Kurt Busch, 151
15) #20-Erik Jones, 146
16) #24-William Byron, 129
See the Drivers Points Standings and Owners Points Standings.
Cars to the rear: #78-McLeod (multiple inspection failures) #32-LaJoie (multiple inspection failures), #20-Jones, (unapproved adjustments), #27-Gaulding (driver change), #77-Yeley (driver change)
Due to forecasted inclement weather, NASCAR will adjust the start time of Wednesday evening’s Toyota 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway to 6 p.m. ET. The race will be broadcast on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Pit Stall Selections: The selections of pit stalls for the Toyota 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway have been made. Pit selection was based on the finish of Sunday’s race.
Sunday’s race winner #4-Harvick chose first and will use pit stall 1.
2nd place finisher #88-Bowman chose the 8th stall, with an opening in front of it.
3rd place #1-Busch has pit stall 7.
See all pit choices on Pit Stall chart.(5-18-2020)
#37-Ryan Preece will start the Toyota 500 at Darlington Raceway from the pole.
#13-Dillon will start second followed by #22-Logano, #14-Bowyer, #12-Blaney, #12-Newman, #21-DiBenedetto, #2-Keselowski, #10-Almirola, and #3-Dillon.
The starting lineup was based on the finishing order of Sunday’s race, with the top 20 finishers being inverted and the remainder of the field starting where they finished Sunday’s race.
See the complete Toyota 500k Starting Lineup.
Crew Rosters
Entry List for the Toyota 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway is posted, 39 teams/drivers [for 40 spots] are listed.
Some of the drivers entered include: #27-Gaulding, #51-Gase, #53-Smithley, #66-Hill, #77-Yeley, #78-McLeod.
Since 39 cars are entered, no one will miss the race.
See the full entry list on the Entry List (pdf)
Pit selection process:
- Order based on finishing position from the May 17th race at Darlington, followed by new entries in order of points. Pit stalls will be picked in advance and the pit boxes will be in the stalls when the teams arrive.
Starting lineup process:
- Positions 1-20: Invert the top 20 from the May 17th race at Darlington
- Positions 21-40: In finishing order from the May 17th race at Darlington (not inverted), followed by new entries
