LEBANON, Tenn. – In a thrilling battle in the final laps of Sunday night’s Cracker Barrel 400, Denny Hamlin held off Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe to earn Toyota’s first-ever NASCAR Cup Series victory at Nashville Superspeedway.

The race was delayed due to rain and once the green flag waved, the action never settled down. Hamlin jumped the initial start and was forced to pit road to serve the penalty. Fighting his way back, Hamlin reached the top-five by the end of Stage 2. With four cautions in the final 100 laps, pit strategy became key, but in the end, it were the calls made by Hamlin’s crew chief, Chris Gayle that won the race.

“Didn’t expect the restart violation at the start of the race there,” Gayle said. “Then at that point we’re not sure how that’s going to play out because this place is so tricky with when do the cautions fall and how many people stack, taking tires and not taking tires.

“You don’t really know when you’re going to get that caution that’s the coin flip that you can turn your way to get track position. That was the hard thing for us all day. For us it was probably that caution just at the end of stage 2 when we knew we were going to flip. I think four or five of us took right side tires there. We were the fourth of the guys that took right side tires, and that next restart, Denny was able to get to the lead of those guys. So that we knew everybody would pit at the end of the stage, we would inherit the lead”

On the final restart with four laps to go, Bell and Briscoe brought the field down to the green flag. For the next two laps, Hamlin and Bell raced side-by-side until Briscoe made it three wide as they took the white flag.

 “I knew that me and the 20 (Bell) had an awful (Turns) 3 and 4 coming to the white,” Hamlin said. “That was my last attempt to drive in deep and clear him, and I realized — I mean, he was not going to let me. At that point, I just said I’m going to run the fastest last lap that I possibly can and not worry about where he’s at or anything.”

Bell overdrove Turn 1 on the final lap and pushed up in front of Briscoe, and that opened the door for Hamlin to pass by and hold on for his 62^nd career series victory, just one win behind Kyle Busch.

“So we come to the white, we got a terrible run-off — I know that 19 (Briscoe) had a run,” Hamlin said. “I don’t even know where he was until I saw a replay. I didn’t know we were actually three wide bottom. But at that point, I just said I’m going to roll the bottom, and wherever the 20 goes, he goes, but I think that I can still stay beside him if I just hold it low and not try to drive in deep.

“I think that he tried to not let me clear him and he also tried to clear the 19 and just went too deep there and allowed me to clear.”

Bell held on to finish second in the No. 20 DeWalt Toyota, marking consecutive runner-up finishes. The effort is also his fifth top-five this season; however, despite the strong run, Bell was disappointed that the moment was capitalized on.

“It was great racing,” Bell said. “I hope the fans enjoyed that, it was a great show. I’m just disappointed in myself and disappointed in my team. They brought a great racecar and I didn’t get the job done.”

Briscoe finished third in the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota. The finish is a great bounce back from crashing out at Charlotte Motor Speedway the week prior. The effort also marks his fifth top-five finish of the season as well.

“We were all driving so deep that we slide up the racetrack,” Briscoe said. “I was in no man’s land after that. Hate that we weren’t on the better end of it. We had a really, really good Bass Pro Shops Tracker Toyota, just felt like it was certainly capable of winning, ended up third. Great day for JGR, went one, two, three. Wish we were the ones in first.”

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished fourth while piloting a Kyle Busch inspired NOS Energy Chevrolet. Shane Van Gisbergen rounded out the top-five, earning an impressive oval result. Rounding out the top-10 was Tyler Reddick who crossed hard cross the finish line, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Zane Smith who ran a long time on old tires.

AJ Allmendinger won Stage 1 but later crashed out on Lap 174. Coca-Cola 600 winner, Daniel Suarez won Stage 2.

There were 31 lead changes among 15 drivers. Hamlin led a race high of 57 laps, and Kyle Larson led 56 laps.

The caution flew on 11 occasions for 77 laps. There were quite a few multi-car accidents throughout the night.

With the win, Hamlin cut into Reddick’s point lead. Hamlin now trails by 97 points.

The NASCAR Cup Series will visit Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, June 7, for the Firekeepers Casino 400. Live coverage will broadcast on Prime at 3 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Mitchell White/TheFourthTurn.com