Hamlin content with North Wilkesboro turnaround after extending NASCAR point lead

Denny Hamlin entered North Wilkesboro Speedway with PTSD from some awful performances at the track. Fortunately, those races didn’t count because they were All-Star Race events, and even better, they didn’t carry over into Sunday night when points were on the line.

Hamlin ran inside the top five all night and finished second in the first NASCAR Cup Series points race in Wilkes County in nearly 30 years. In doing so, he extended his point lead with only a handful of races remaining in the regular season.

But on the flip side, he had nothing for race winner Joey Logano. Hamlin did his best to stay within fighting distance of the Team Penske driver, but never touched the race lead.

“You just have to compliment them on a great day and a great drive,” Hamlin said. “They were really good. There were a lot of times when I felt like my car was kind of close to where it needed to be, and just a smidge off. It was a great battle. At least I could keep him honest there, but he had a lot of speed, and he never really gave up on the short run or the long run.

“So, a great job by our whole Progressive team to keep us in the ball game. But we’ll have to regroup.”

Hamlin led nine laps early in the first stage. Those were the only laps he led.

Logano, meanwhile, waxed the field for 323 of the 450 laps.

“Wildly impressive,” said Hamlin. “I thought it was a really impressive drive from him, and he maneuvered through traffic really well and did everything that we know Joey to do.”

Hamlin now has a 68 point lead over Tyler Reddick.

“I really feel great about our day, though,” Hamlin said. “Such a big turnaround from what we were here last year, and this Toyota was just one spot short.”