Denny Hamlin: Ryan Blaney had the best car at Darlington, didn't expect William Byron to win

Denny Hamlin was victorious this past weekend at Darlington. However, the No. 11 wheelman will be the first to admit he didn’t have the best car in South Carolina — he believes that honor goes to Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 team.

William Byron may have led an insane amount of laps, but it was Blaney in position to win when Kyle Larson brought out the caution at the end of the Goodyear 400. That’s when Hamlin’s pit crew got him into the lead, and the veteran never looked back. He took some time to elaborate on his thoughts on the matter during his Actions Detrimental podcast.

“I saw that the No. 12 was having issues on pit road throughout the day. I mean, I thought that, truthfully, he had the best car,” Hamlin stated. “It’s hard to say, considering [Blaney] lead very few [laps] compared to the No. 24. But I think the No. 24 leading that whole race — it wasn’t fake news, but it was like, ‘Yeah, just put them behind someone and let’s see what happens.’ You could just see that the No. 12 was really able to make passes that others couldn’t. So, I thought he had the best car.

“He never had the track position, because it seemed like he would lose spots on pit road. Certainly, that was a hindrance for that team, and it was ultimately kind of a deciding factor there.”

Alas, Blaney likely did have the best car at Darlington, but he needed the best pit stop to get the win. He didn’t get it, and Hamlin did. That’s what it came down to in South Carolina, and Hamlin isn’t going to apologize for it.

“Last week, the pit crew got a lot of attention on different things they were doing and for them to get to showcase it at the end of this race in a green-white-checkered situation where they know that if they get you out with a lead, your chances of winning are pretty high,” Hamlin told Kevin Harvick following the win. “They were salivating at that opportunity, and they took advantage of it.

“… This one certainly is one that I didn’t deserve really as a driver. It feels good to get a win that you didn’t have the best car, you didn’t have race-winning speed, you just did your job just good enough to execute and keep the team in the game, right. Very similar to Houston, Duke dominated the game, but Houston just kept hanging around just enough and capitalized when the others couldn’t close. That’s what happened.”

There’s been plenty of instances where Denny Hamlin had the best car, but he was bested by a different competitor. He stole one back at Darlington, and Ryan Blaney will have to wait for his first win of the 2025 season, even if he deserved to get it done at The Lady in Black.

— On3’s Nick Geddes contributed to this article.