“Experience was a big part of it for sure,” said Hamlin. “I was trying not to get pushed so much by Ty (Gibbs). I knew he was going to push a little too hard. Obviously, I knew Martin (Truex Jr.) was going to be the next guy in line that had the experience to challenge. Really proud of the team. Obviously, a really great job on the pit sequence there. Being able to hang on longer than others was the key to us being able to stop later and have some tires at the end.”
- Denny Hamlin
In a wild day of pit strategy, Denny Hamlin and crew chief Chris Gabehart came out on top – scoring their second straight victory at Bristol.
NASCAR
With extreme tire wear throughout the race forcing teams to consider all kinds of pit strategy, it was Hamlin and Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) that came out on top. Hamlin led 13 times for 163 laps throughout the race and pulled away from Martin Truex Jr. to score his first victory of the 2024 season and fourth at Bristol.
“We kind of made something out of nothing, I guess,” said Heim. “We didn’t qualify well, and we knew that would be the name of the game as part of track position goes. It was an uphill climb from the start. It’s really disappointing to not get any stage points, and come up short of a top-five, but most importantly come up short of a win. Huge thanks to Safelite, TRICON Garage, Toyota Racing for all they do. I feel like we put ourselves in a good spot – just didn’t have the raw speed and didn’t have the track position. We have to keep working on it and get better.”
- Corey Heim
JGR had a dominant day – leading 383 of 500 laps. All four of their Camrys finished in the top-10 with Hamlin, Truex, Ty Gibbs (ninth) and Christopher Bell (10th). Gibbs also won the first two stages – the first two stage wins of his career.
John Hunter Nemechek also had a solid day for LEGACY MOTOR CLUB. He finished in the top-five in both stages and earned a career-best sixth-place finish.
Corey Heim and Taylor Gray continued their strong performances to begin the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series season on Saturday evening with top-10 finishes at Bristol Motor Speedway. Christian Eckes was the race winner.
Heim (sixth) earned his fourth top-10 finish in as many races to start the season. The Toyota Development Driver has now finished inside the top-10 in 19 of the last 20 Truck races.
Gray (seventh) delivered his third consecutive top-10 finish – for the first time in his career.
XTREME MIDGET
Cannon McIntosh led Ryan Timms in a Toyota one-two finish on night two of the Xtreme Outlaw Series’ season-opening indoor double-header at the Southern Illinois Center in Du Quoin, Illinois. Fellow Toyota drivers Jade Avedisian and Trey Marcham placed fourth and fifth, respectively to give Toyota four of the top-five finishers on the night. The win was McIntosh's 35th national midget feature win and the 497th by a Toyota-powered driver since the program's debut in 2006.
In Saturday's season-opener, Gavin Miller led the Toyota contingent with a runner-up finish. The Toyota national midget program returns to action March 27 in the POWRI National Midget League opener at Creek County Speedway in Sapulpa, Oklahoma.
What’s Next
It’s time for the first road course race of the year as NASCAR runs at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas next weekend. On Saturday, March 23, the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series runs a doubleheader, with the Truck Series running at 1:30 p.m. ET, and the Xfinity Series competing at 5:00 p.m. ET. The NASCAR Cup Series closes the weekend on Sunday, March 24 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series has their second race of the season at the In-N-Out Pomona Dragstrip, with final eliminations on Sunday, March 24 at 7:00 p.m. ET on FS1.
Finally, the ARCA Menards Series East kicks off their season at Five Flags Speedway in Florida. The race is on Saturday, March 23 at 8:30 p.m. ET on FloRacing.