The 44-year-old put on a master class in fuel saving and end-of-race pressure at the 2-mile oval – taking his third win of the season and 57th of his career. Hamlin crossed the line 1.099 seconds ahead of RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher and his JGR teammate, Ty Gibbs, after the day’s most dominant driver, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron, had to pit for fuel on the next-to-last lap.
“No, not really,” Hamlin said, insisting he wasn’t overly worried about running out of fuel in the closing laps. “I wanted to get the lead, and obviously he [Byron] was doing a really good job defending.