Hamlin Takes the Win at Richmond

Photo: Mike Caudill, Freelancer/Associated Press

Toyota Owners 400:

Denny Hamlin secured his second win of the season on Easter Sunday. Hamlin took the checkered flag ahead of Joey Logano after Hamlin's pit crew delivered a lightning fast stop to get him out of the pits first for the overtime finish. Hamlin then used his exceptional talent and restart skills to jump out in front of the dominant Martin Truex Jr and snag the win of the Toyota Owners 400. A second win of the season, both at short tracks, and another win at his home track sets up Denny Hamlin nicely with playoff position and playoff points within the first third of the season. Moreover, the Toyota success and Hamlin confidence on short tracks and the mile long flat tracks (Phoenix) continues to add strength to the notion that Hamlin is a serious threat for the title again this year.

Although Hamlin won, his victory alone is not the top story of the weekend. The big talking point coming after the checkered flag was Hamlin's last restart. Now, I have to admit, my initial gripe was the fact the FOX decided to focus in on the 20th place cars as the leaders were taking the green. And honestly, that's still my biggest gripe. How they can drop the ball that bad is beyond me, but it's par for the course for the FOX producers and directors. Anyway, back to the "issue" at hand: Denny's restart. When FOX finally decided to show us the battle for the lead with two laps to go I was shocked that Hamlin had such a strong restart. I knew that front row duo was going to be competitive so when I saw Hamlin nearly cleared Truex by the start finish line I knew something had happened. I was anxious to see a replay or hear Mike Joy report that NASCAR was reviewing the restart. Of course neither happened until well after the checkered flag. Once we saw the replay I was shocked we didn't hear that the replay was reviewed. Now, I don't have a problem with it. Did Denny go before the lines? Sure. Has NASCAR been wildly inconsistent with these rulings? Absolutely. Does Denny know that and took advantage of it? 100%. Was the restart egregious? No; it was what these teams practice and know they can get away with at that stage in the race. Either way we cut it, Denny won. He played it perfectly. Did not give up the lead his pit crew gave him. And he executed to perfection on the restart and the final two laps to take the checkered flag and put his #11 Toyota Camry in victory lane yet again.

At the end of the day, I'm not upset with Denny. It's done; it's over with; he won. What irks me is the NASCAR inconsistency and communication around the restart. If NASCAR isn't so wildly inconsistent with these types of calls, then Denny doesn't take that chance on a risky restart. If you have a problem with the restart, point the finger at NASCAR and demand they change the rule or call it as many fans interpret it. Will that happen? Maybe. All I hope is we get consistency with the rule. Because of their inconsistency, with this and the Kyle Busch, we are hardly talking about the intriguing parts of strategy calls in the race; we are not talking about the crucial late race pit stops; we are not talking about a superb restart and exciting two lap shootout for the win; we are talking about the officials. And in my opinion, that's not a good thing to be talking about in any sport.

The checkered flag has fallen on Richmond, and Denny Hamlin is the winner. Time to focus forward to another exciting Virginia short track: Martinsville Speedway and Sunday's Cook Out 400. Tune in to FS1 on Sunday at 3 p.m. EST for what I hope to be a thrilling battle on the paperclip!

Picks: Cup - Martin Truex Jr

Xfinity - Justin Allgaier

Trucks - Layne Riggs