Back-to-back: Denny Hamlin finds a way to victory lane as he wins the Goodyear 400 in overtime (AUDIO)

NASCAR fans will tell you that it’s a team, not an individual sport. Denny Hamlin will certainly agree. His Joe Gibbs Racing teammates got him out in front on the money stop just prior to overtime, and Hamlin drove away to victory in the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday afternoon.

Celebrating the official “Throwback Weekend” of NASCAR, Hamlin’s pit crew turned in a 9.42-second stop to get him off pit road with the lead, and the rest was in the veteran driver’s hands. Hamlin was spot on the rest of the way, winning for the second week in a row after racing to victory at Martinsville last Sunday.

Though he would have never been in the position to do so if it weren’t for one of his rivals.

“There’s two people I really love right now, my pit crew and Kyle Larson,” Hamlin told Fox Sports after his 56th career victory, and the pre-race favorite did play a major role in Hamlin’s win. Larson brought out two of the eight caution flags on the day, and each was significant.

The Hendrick Motorsports driver spun on lap three, crashing into the inside retaining wall, causing extensive damage to his #5 Chevrolet. His machine was towed to the garage, where his team repaired the vehicle enough to get it back on the racetrack, only to be a factor in the outcome. Though probably not how Larson would have liked.

With four laps remaining, Ryan Blaney passed Tyler Reddick for the lead. Almost at that instant, Larson crashed again and brought out the final caution of the day, which set the stage for overtime, giving Hamlin and his team the chance they needed.

For the first 243 laps, it seemed as if Hamlin, Larson, Blaney, Reddick, and the rest of the field would be a subplot to William Byron’s day in the Carolina sun.

For much of the race, Byron had the fastest car at Darlington Raceway. He dominated the opening stage, leading all 90 laps of the first segment while avoiding the three cautions in the stage. Throughout a good portion of the opening laps, Byron held a nearly five-second lead over his nearest competitor and front-row companion, Ryan Preece. At the end of the stage, it was the most laps he’d ever led at Darlington, becoming the first driver since the introduction of stage racing to lead every lap at Darlington.

However, during green flag pit stops in the final stage, Byron gave up the lead and was not much of a factor the rest of the way. He did recover to finish second, just ahead of Christopher Bell, Reddick, and Blaney.

The NASCAR Cup series shifts to Bristol next weekend as Hamlin will go for three in a row. Racing returns to Darlington for the Southern 500 over Labor Day weekend.

Race Results

Denny Hamlin & Joe Gibbs — Darlington Postrace Presser