Overton’s 301 results: Denny Hamlin wins NASCAR race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Denny Hamlin held off a charging Kyle Larson to win the Overton’s 301 and give Joe Gibbs Racing its first Monster Energy Cup Series victory of the season Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Hamlin led 54 of 301 laps — including the final 33 laps — to win his 30th career race. Larson finished second, followed by pole-sitter Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth, and Kevin Harvick. Rookie Daniel Suarez equaled a career-best by finishing sixth, with Clint Bowyer in seventh, Kurt Busch in eighth, Brad Keselowski in ninth, and Jimmie Johnson completing the top 10.

It was Hamlin’s first win since September at Richmond Raceway and JGR’s first since Carl Edwards went to victory lane at Texas Motor Speedway in November. Three of JGR’s four cars (Hamlin, Kenseth and Suarez) finished in the top 10 on Sunday, with Kyle Busch in 12th.

Hamlin is now virtually assured a spot in the 16-driver playoff field.

“We’ve been getting better and better as the year goes on,” Hamlin said. “Definitely needed a win for the organization, for myself, to get some momentum going with the playoffs coming up. This was awesome.”

Larson rallied to finish second after starting last in the 39-car field. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver had originally won the pole during qualifying on Friday, but the time was disallowed when NASCAR determined the No. 42 Chevrolet had an unapproved rear deck fin lid when going through post-qualifying technical inspection.

Larson has finished runner-up in seven of 19 races this season. His consistency has him second in the series standings, trailing leader Truex by 38 points with seven regular season races remaining.

“Finished second, but another hard‑fought race,” said Larson, who’s a two-time winner in 2017. “You know, this is the third time we’ve had to start last and drove up to second. I wish we could have been a spot better again, but really proud of my team and proud of the cars that they’re bringing for me to drive each and every week.”

Busch led 95 laps Sunday and was out front when he made a planned pit stop with 63 laps to go. That advantage went away when he was caught speeding getting onto pit road, forcing him to serve a pass-through penalty. He also sped entering the pits 25 laps later.

Busch, the 2015 series champion, has now gone a career-long 35 races without winning a Cup race. He is the two-time defending winner of the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the next race on the schedule.

Kenseth expanded his lead over Joey Logano to 52 points for the final provisional playoff transfer position among drivers without an eligible victory. Logano suffered a rear suspension failure just past halfway, necessitating a trip to the garage for repairs. In an unusual move, NASCAR officials confiscated suspension parts off the No. 22 car.

Logano won at Richmond in April, but afterward NASCAR determined Team Penske had used a nonconforming rear suspension part on the No. 22 car. Although Logano was allowed to keep the win, he was stripped of the benefits including using that victory to secure postseason eligibility. He now likely needs to win before the regular season concludes to make the playoffs.

“We were in this spot two times last year in the playoffs — must win. Back against the way. We won both times,” Logano said. The team has it in them. We just have to get faster to be able to do that. Our team executes well, we just have to have something to race with a little bit.”