The Latest Breaking News from Hamlin

Larson and Hamlin both made their final green flag pit stop in Sunday’s race on the same lap in the final stage, but Larson was able to get off pit road first and held the lead when a caution interrupted the cycle of stops.

Hamlin, who led all but 11 of the final 147 laps, got beat by Larson on pit road on their final green flag pit stop but reclaimed it on the ensuing restart.

Truex Jr. had dominated what ended up being a very uneventful race – leading 228 of the 407 laps – and appeared to have his first win of the 2024 season well in hand when Kyle Larson got spun out with one lap remaining and sent the race into overtime.

Most drivers navigated the same issue throughout Sunday’s race, but the difference was Truex was in the best position to catch Hamlin for the win. And it was close – so close.

Hamlin, who won last fall’s Bristol Night Race, found himself in a much different scenario in Sunday’s race, which was the first spring Bristol event held on the asphalt since 2020. The race has been run on dirt for the past three years.

Hamlin ended up fastest in Round 1 of Saturday’s qualifying and repeated the effort in the final round, earning the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race with an average lap speed of 132.655 mph.

In the second Duel of the evening, Hamlin had powered by to the lead with five of 60 laps to go, but Bell had made his way to second at the start of the final lap.

Hamlin had powered to the lead with five of 60 laps to go but Bell had made his way to second at the start of the final lap.

Hamlin, who earned the pole for the non-points exhibition race earlier Saturday at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, fell back into the field during the race but rallied back to the front with 10 laps remaining.

On November 22nd, Joe Gibbs Racing revealed that Hamlin had undergone successful arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder.

NASCAR earlier this week finally announced the completed 2024 Cup schedule. While the new schedule features just one new venue – a June race at the Iowa Speedway short track – there are some significant race date changes that will impact the way the series determines its champion.