Denny Hamlin claims rival had the “best car” in Darlington despite win

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin claimed that Ryan Blaney had the “best car” during the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway. The latter suffered a delayed pit stop which cost him the win, leaving Hamlin to secure his second victory of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series.

Reflecting on the race during his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin explained:

“I saw that the No. 12 was having issues on pit road throughout the day. I mean, I thought that, truthfully, he had the best car.

“It’s hard to say, considering [Blaney] lead very few [laps] compared to the No. 24. But I think the No. 24 leading that whole race — it wasn’t fake news, but it was like, ‘Yeah, just put them behind someone and let’s see what happens.’ You could just see that the No. 12 was really able to make passes that others couldn’t. So, I thought he had the best car.

“He never had the track position, because it seemed like he would lose spots on pit road. Certainly, that was a hindrance for that team, and it was ultimately kind of a deciding factor there.”

Blaney’s crew chief Jonathan Hassler addressed the pit stop delay to Sportsnaut following the race, stating:

“The group’s perfectly capable. We’ve just got to clean it up, and we’ll be there, hopefully, sooner rather than later.”

Hassler argued that the pit stop strategy they adopted was their “only play.”

“Yeah, I mean, I think that was really kind of our only play from where we were running to maybe have a shot to win or a good finish. We weren’t going to pit early when those other guys pitted and get to the lead. So, we just kind of chose to do something different, and it worked out.”

Confirming that the delayed pit stop most likely lost the win for Blaney, Hassler continued:

“I think so, and if you look they definitely had one mistake with the jack that cost us a lot of time. Our last stop was clean. A 9.3, I think, but guys were running low 8s. The 24 I think we matched his time there on the last stop, but in pit stall one, you just have that advantage.

“So, you know, I think it’s like anything else in the sport. Just takes a little bit of change to go a long way and I think we’ll be able to recover from this.”

Photos from Darlington – Race