Denny Hamlin was the leader of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway going into overtime, but that ended up being the worst place to be.
Hamlin was put three-wide on the restart when Kyle Larson dove inside him and Chris Buescher. It quickly took Hamlin from the race lead to third place. On the white flag lap, Hamlin was in a battle for third with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. and Chase Elliott.
Again, Hamlin found himself in the wrong spot. Stuck in the middle of Truex and Elliott in Turns 1 and 2, Hamlin lost his momentum and faded to a fifth-place finish.
“Well, a difficult spot, right?” Hamlin said of the overtime restart. “I needed to get the push from the 5 (Kyle Larson), but I knew he wasn’t going to stay in line, that he was going to go for the win. Unfortunately, it left me in a spot where I was vulnerable there in the middle.”
Hamlin led a race-high 71 laps and won the first stage of the AdventHealth 400. It was a battle between him and Buescher for much of the final stage, with the two moving into the top two positions off a restart with 62 laps to go after having stayed out to inherit track position.
The two swapped the lead repeatedly. Buescher led with 59 laps to go before Hamlin took the spot back with 52 to go. Buescher was ahead with 39 left and Hamlin with 38 remaining.
The two were still running first and second with less than 30 laps to go. However, they were both trying to save fuel as well. Hamlin was leading when the final caution flew with seven laps to go, sending the field to pit road for the final time.