Richard Petty says Denny Hamlin’s pit crew won him race at Richmond

If it weren’t for Denny Hamlin’s pit crew, a victory in this past Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway likely wasn’t in the cards.

During the final pit stop ahead of overtime, Hamlin sat P3 behind Martin Truex Jr. and Joey Logano. Hamlin came off pit road P1, a testament to his pit crew which is off to a dominant start in 2024. That final pit stop changed the entire race, as Hamlin held off Truex, Logano and Kyle Larson to pick up his 53rd-career victory and second of the season.

Seven-time Cup Series champion Richard Petty, giving his Petty Race Recap for Richmond, said he wasn’t a fan of the race coming down to overtime, but acknowledged that Hamlin’s pit crew won him the race.

“That’s what wound up winning the race,” Petty said. “I don’t like to see a race where the guys have run the whole race, made their pit stops, done their strategy, had it all figured out, they’re out there leading the race or running fifth or whatever and then all of a sudden, they have a two-lap race.

“We sat there and watched 398 laps and it was just a lost cause more or less. And then they just mix them all up. But like you said, it wound up that the pit crew got the 11 [Hamlin] in front. The 11 was good, had a good second, third or fourth-place car, but the deal was when the chips were down, they got the job done.”

Denny Hamlin breaks down late pit stop that gave him the win at Richmond

Though he had to hold off three former champions during the two-lap overtime to win, Hamlin made sure to give credit to his pit crew after the race.

“Yeah, certainly we wanted to have a Toyota victory and it looked like Martin had this thing pretty much locked up until that last caution,” Hamlin said. “So, when you’ve got great Toyotas like we’ve got, you’ve got an extra bullet in the chamber. I knew that when we went to pit road, we were gonna have a shot to come out with the lead, just with the way the pit crew’s been performing this year. They’re the ones that honestly won this victory for us.

“It was 100% key. I pushed everything I could with my lights on pit road, probably was the fastest I’ve gone down pit road all day long. I knew that it was going to take all of us stacking good times and good metrics on that last stop to come out with the lead. It’s one thing to try and overtake one, but to take over two, you’ve got to be top of the chart. The pit crew I could tell how fast it was going about halfway through and I knew that oh boy, they’re gonna give me a shot, just don’t stall it leaving the stall.”