Last year: Hamlin finally breaks through for LVMS win

Everybody was looking up at eventual Cup Series champion Kyle Larson before last year’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

But after the checkered flag, most eyes were focused squarely on race winner Denny Hamlin.

“It feels so good to win in Vegas,” Hamlin said after finishing 0.422 seconds ahead of Chase Elliott to win the 2021 South Point 400, his 46th career victory and first in 21 races at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas oval. “Last couple of times I’ve been so close, just didn’t have the right breaks. Great to hold those guys off.”

After going winless during the regular season, the driver of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota started the second tier of playoffs the same way he did the first — by winning and locking up a berth in the next round.

Elliott was the only driver who had a chance to run down Hamlin after the final green-flag pit stops but came up a little short.

Hamlin led seven times for a race-high 137 of 267 laps. But in the early going, it was Larson who appeared to be the class of the field.

The regular-season champion appeared well on his way to his seventh victory of 2021 and his second in four playoff races before the Hendrick Motorsports team kept him on the track longer than the other pacesetters before a midrace pit stop.

“We just did a poor job executing and got ourselves trapped a lap down on old tires for half the last stage and had to battle our way through,” said the championship leader, who wound up finishing an uncharacteristic 10th after leading 95 laps.

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.