By: Zach Arnold

RICHMOND, Virginia – Tempers were high at the end of Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 between teammates and other drivers throughout the Cup Series field after 400 laps at Richmond Raceway.

Martin Truex Jr. appeared to have a large enough lead to win the race until Bubba Wallace spun Kyle Larson with three laps remaining. This caution set up a two-lap shootout to determine the event’s winner. Mostly every car hit pit road to put on fresh tires; the No. 11 team had the strongest stop and put their driver in the lead exiting the pits.

Hamlin restarted on the inside lane and prevailed in the final two laps. Even though the strongest Joe Gibbs Racing driver (Truex Jr.) did not win, the team still parked a car in victory lane. This win marked Hamlin’s second points-paying race win of the season.

Truex Jr and Larson nearly wrecked each other purposefully on the race’s final lap, with Larson saying afterward, “I think he’s mad at Denny and I was the closest guy to him [Truex] to take some anger out.”

Wallace went up to Larson and apologized for spinning him with three laps remaining, “Whatever is coming my way, I expect it.” he said. Larson did not seem upset as he was smiling throughout the interaction; therefore, there won’t be a reason for retaliation from Larson.

There were no smiles or laughs from Truex Jr. post-race, except for a frustrated look from the 43-year-old. “Lead the whole race then some dumb-ass move brings out a caution” he said. “I didn’t really appreciate a teammate racing me like that,”

It is important to note Sunday’s race began on wet weather tires. This was the first time a Cup Series race took the green flag on wet weather tires. NASCAR implemented a competition caution on Lap 30 where teams switched to regular slick tires. During this caution, pit stops were not competitive and every driver remained in their position when the caution flag flew.

There were three cautions due to accidents throughout the race; Kyle Busch, Daniel Suarez, Larson, and Wallace were the four drivers involved.

Green flag pit stops during stage two is when we saw strategy play a large role throughout the race. Most drivers were racing on two separate strategies; however, drivers who stayed out to turn the stage into a one-stop segment had their strategy ruined when Busch spun.

NASCAR heads to Martinsville, Virginia for the second-straight short track event. Catch the race on Sunday at 3:00 pm EST to see if Hamlin can win his third straight short-track race in a row.