This article is part of our NASCAR Barometer series.
Denny Hamlin scored his second win on the trot with an unexpected turn of events late in Sunday's Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway. The race was dominated by William Byron who started on pole and led the first 243 laps, sweeping stage wins, and seemingly cruising to a second victory of the season. However, Byron lost the lead for the first time when he stayed out on older tires in the final stage, getting leap-frogged by the competition in doing so. Following the loss of position, the No. 24 wasn't as effective in traffic as it was out front and it looked like a late charge from Team Penske's Ryan Blaney was going to secure that team's first victory of the year. As soon as Blaney took the lead one final crash brought out a final caution, setting up an overtime finish, though. Blaney led the contenders to pit road one final time, but exited fourth. Instead, it was Denny Hamlin's team that delivered the goods with the fastest four-tire stop, getting their driver off pit road first. On the restart, Hamlin excused himself from the battle behind and built an unassailable advantage that he held until the checkered flag.
Sunday's win was Hamlin's second of the season and made him the second driver to win back-to-back races this season after teammate Christopher Bell won three in a row. Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing have now won five of the first eight races and continue to hold an edge over the rest of the field with another short-track stop on the calendar at Bristol Motor Speedway. Hamlin and Kyle Larson won at that track last season, and Hamlin has won two of the last three there. With Ford further behind and Chevrolet feeling like they've had one stolen from them, the stage is set for a short-track showdown on the high-banked turns of Bristol this weekend.
UPGRADE
Denny Hamlin - Hamlin's pit crew delivered when it mattered the most. After William Byron dominated the Goodyear 400, Hamlin did well just to stay in the mix. The golden opportunity presented itself when a caution came with just four laps remaining to set up an overtime finish. As the leaders went to pit road the final time, Hamlin's team delivered the perfect stop, getting him out first with the all-important lane choice for the final restart. Hamlin chose the outside and never looked back as the others battled for position behind him. By the time the order was sorted out, Hamlin had a big enough lead to win his second consecutive race. After going the entire season without a back-to-back winner in 2024, Hamlin became the second to accomplish the feat in the first eight races of 2025. Up next is Bristol where Hamlin returns as the defending race winner as he tries to match teammate Christopher Bell's mark of three consecutive wins.
Ryan Blaney - Blaney qualified ninth for Sunday's Goodyear 400 and spent the entire day running inside the top 10, collecting points in each stage. As the established running order began to shift in the final miles, it was Blaney who had the fastest car on track. The former series champion made quick work of traffic ahead, and was closing in on the leader with the finish in sight. Unfortunately, just as Blaney made the pass for the lead, Kyle Larson crashed to set up an overtime finish. Blaney's team had been one of the slowest on pit road all afternoon, and they were the same when it mattered most. Blaney exited pit road for the final restart four positions back from where he entered. With just two laps to regain the lead, Blaney's chances for the win evaporated as he settled for a fifth-place finish. The top-five was his first since Atlanta and second finish of 11th or better in a row, though. He finished sixth last fall at Bristol and will hope to keep this top-10 momentum rolling.
Chase Elliott - Elliott's quiet confidence continued to build with another consistent top finish at Darlington. With Sunday's eighth-place finish, the Hendrick Motorsports driver added a fifth top-10 finish to his tally from the eight races run so far. He is one of just seven drivers to have five top-10 finishes in these first races, and Elliott's consistency has been enough to put him top in the points among drivers yet to win a race. The quiet build of confidence and finishing momentum is likely to pay dividends in terms of chances at a win, too. Consistently being in position to capitalize is the hallmark of a championship caliber team, and it appears as though Elliott and his No. 9 crew are operating on that level now. Bristol should be a venue they can keep that run going, too. Elliott enters this week's race with four finishes of eighth or better at the track despite not having a series win there.
Tyler Reddick - As expected, Tyler Reddick was in contention for the win on Sunday. The 23XI Racing driver nearly won at Darlington last season and was expected again to be one of the contenders. He needed to wait quite a while to get there, though. After William Byron dominated the proceedings, Reddick made his first appearance out front on lap 248. Reddick spent the next 48 laps leading until being caught and passed by Blaney. Almost at the same time Reddick was passed, a late caution set up an overtime restart. Following the final stops, Reddick lined up third to race for the win, but slipped backward in the final scrum, finishing fourth. That was Reddick's third top-five of the year and second top-10 from the last three races. His hunt for a victory continues this week at Bristol where he has just one top finish, a fourth-place result in the fall race of 2020. Reddick's average Bristol result is 20.3.
Ty Gibbs - After a rough start to the 2025 season, Ty Gibbs needed some good fortune, and that is what he got Sunday. Despite missing out on stage points in the race's first segment, Gibbs held tough and consolidated track position through pit strategy in the second. That was enough to move him back inside the top 10, where he stayed all the way through to his race finish of ninth, his best of the season so far. Sunday's points are a good turnaround from four straight finishes outside of the top 20, and it was his second top-15 in a row. Perhaps the slide has been reversed. Fantasy players will have to keep an eye on that this week at Bristol. Gibbs finished ninth and 15th there last season and has two top-10s from four series starts. This is a team that expects to be in the playoffs, and many expected Gibbs to have won a race by this point in his Cup career. At the moment, incremental progress will be success enough to get 2025 back on track.
DOWNGRADE
Kyle Larson - Sunday's Darlington visit couldn't have gone much worse for Larson. Things started to come undone almost as soon as the green flag waved. Less than five laps into the race, Larson lost control and spun off of turn 2, nosing the car heavily into the inside wall. He was able to limp the car back to the pits where the team performed extensive repairs. Ultimately, Larson returned to the track but only recovered one additional position before crashing again with less than five laps to go. For fantasy players, it was more of Larson's unpredictability. The former champion has won races, but he also punctuates those triumphs with outings like Sunday's. More consistency would be nice, but he still remains a threat to win each week. The same is likely to be true again this week at Bristol where he won last fall. That victory was his sixth straight finish of sixth or better at the track, too.
Josh Berry - Contact with Tyler Reddick and an ensuing crash against the inside wall left Berry with his second consecutive finish outside of the top 30. The crash was especially disappointing because Berry had been working his way forward in the order until then. Despite starting outside of the top 20, Berry was able to work his way into the top 10 and scored stage points in the second segment. It all came apart when racing with Reddick around lap 200, though. The damage to Berry's car was severe and took him out of what might have been an otherwise profitable race. Berry and his Wood Brothers Racing team do continue to show competitiveness, though. With the win under the belts, continuing to make their presence felt in the top 10 should convert into more top finishes. Bristol will be a test, though. Berry's best finish in two series starts at the track was 12th last spring when he started on the front row. His fall result was just 29th.
Brad Keselowski - Keselowski's terrible start to the 2025 season continued in Darlington. Despite running in the top 10 and scoring stage points in the first segment Sunday, things went sideways when a wheel nut came off the car around lap 140. Keselowski kept the car from serious damage and got it back to the pits, but there was no caution until the No. 6 was three laps down to the leaders. Keselowski ended the afternoon two laps behind in the 33rd position, which was his third straight finish of 26th or lower and fourth from the last five races. The former series champion still does not have a top-10 finish this season and heads to Bristol 31st in the standings, 66 points behind the playoff positions. To put things mildly, good fortune has not been on this team's side. Keselowski finished third last spring at Bristol and has three career wins at the track. Regaining some of that success this week would be a huge boost to his 2025 campaign.
Alex Bowman - Bowman was on the cusp of a valiant comeback from a lowly 33rd starting position Sunday. The Hendrick Motorsports driver worked his way forward throughout the first two stages and finished 10th in the second segment for a stage point. That fight came to naught later in the running when contact with the outside wall with less than 100 laps remaining. Bowman was forced to pit for repairs to the damage and fell off of the lead lap before returning to the action. In the end, Bowman finished the day 17 laps down in 30th position with just three points. It was the second race in a row where Bowman failed to crack the top 20 and as a result, Bowman heads to Bristol 11th in points, five points behind Joey Logano. However, Bowman finished fourth and ninth in the two races at that track last season and led a combined 37 laps. He will be hoping for some of that success again this week to halt his current slide.
BIGGEST SURPRISE
William Byron - Byron's No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was the class of the field Sunday at Darlington. The two-time Daytona 500 champion qualified on pole and dominated the vast majority of the race, easily holding the lead and circling the track with a multi-second gap to the competition throughout. Byron at last relinquished the lead in the final cycle of pit stops, forcing him to battle back to the front. That prospect was a difficult one, though. After failing to get back to the lead, an overtime restart gave him one last chance to reassert his dominance. He lined up on the front row, but a challenge from Christopher Bell cost him momentum. By the time Byron put Bell away, Hamlin was just too far ahead to reel back in. Despite finishing second, Byron will feel very hard done by the outcome considering how dominant he was. Still, he leads the points heading to Bristol where he finished 35th and 17th last season.
