DARLINGTON, S.C. A perfectly-executed overtime restart by Denny Hamlin following a clutch final pit stop by his Joe Gibbs Racing crew provided exactly the advantage the veteran needed to claim the trophy in Sundays Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway.

Hamlin took the lead out of the pits during the final late-race caution then bested the field on the restart, pulling his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota out front and ultimately to a .597-second victory over the days most dominant driver, Hendrick Motorsports William Byron.

Its the second-consecutive victory for Hamlin, who won last week at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway and marks the first time hes won back-to-back races since 2012.

All smiles as he climbed out the car, Hamlin gave all the credit to his pit crew. He was third place at the time of the final caution the yellow coming out for Byrons Hendrick teammate Kyle Larsons spin.

The leaders seized the chance to pit for fresh tires in anticipation of the overtime restart and Hamlins crew got him out of the pits first ahead of 23XI Racings Tyler Reddick and Byron.

A perfect launch on the green flag gave Hamlin the victory over Byron, who led a race best 243 of the 297 laps. It is Hamlins 56th career win, breaking a tie with NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace for 11th place on NASCARs all-time wins list.

Theres two people I really love right now, my pit crew and Kyle Larson, the 44-year-old Virginian Hamlin said with a grin. Had a little assist there, so thank you.

The pit crew just did an amazing job. They won it last week [at Martinsville]. They won it this week. Its all about them.

It was obviously a tough ending to a career day for Byron, who rallied to the runner-up finish on the final restart but had absolutely dominated the early race, leading the opening 243 laps and claiming both Stage 1 and Stage 2 victories. It was the most laps Byron has ever led in a single race.

First off, just really proud of my team to bring that level of effort and preparation and have a car like that and us execute like that, it was looking like we were going to have a perfect race and we were going to lead every lap, the 2025 DAYTONA 500 winner Byron said.

So, I was really proud of that. Those guys could just be aggressive on the other side of the green flag cycle and we just lost control and once we lost control it was too late to get back up there.

It sucks and Im sure it will sting tonight, but there are still a lot of positives. It just stings in the moment for sure.

Hamlins JGR teammate Christopher Bell finished third in the No. 20 Toyota after an amazing rally forward from a 20th place starting position. Reddick finished fourth in the 23XI Racing Toyota, co-owned by Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan.

Team Penskes Ryan Blaney finished fifth. It is the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champions first top-five at the 1.366-mile historic track, but the result still stings as Blaney had just taken the race lead moments before the final caution came out with only three laps of regulation remaining.

Oh no, Blaney conceded of his thoughts when the yellow flag flew.

I thought we had the race won. I dont really know Ill have to watch a replay and see how the yellow came out and watch it back. But we did a great job and great strategy call of running long.

Great call and just really fast but never got to really control the race, he added I feel like nothing really went our way. Pit road weve got to work on a little bit. Caution coming out during the cycle set us way back and I feel like we kept making up spots. Really proud of the 12 folks for giving me a fast car. Just wasnt meant to be. I really would have liked to have won here. That would have been really neat. Proud of the effort and well keep plugging along.

Roush Fenway Keselowski Racings Chris Buescher finished sixth, followed by Trackhouse Racings Ross Chastain, Hendricks Chase Elliott, JGRs Ty Gibbs and Richard Childress Racings Kyle Busch. It was a season-best effort for Gibbs.

Byrons runner-up showing keeps him in the NASCAR Cup Series championship lead now by 49 points over Hamlin and 52 points over Bell. Its a different look atop the standings, where all four Hendrick Motorsports cars were ranked among the top five.

Hendricks Chase Elliott finished eighth Sunday and is now fourth in the standings, 59 points back. Larson dropped to sixth place after finishing 37th of the 38 cars Sunday. Bowman is now ranked 10th with a 35th place showing at Darlington.