He burned his tires down to nothing.
Thanks to Denny Hamlin, a Joe Gibbs Racing driver finally found his way to Victory Lane after a 20-race drought dating back to November last season.
For Hamlin’s first win of the season – which locked him into the 16-driver, 10-race playoff this fall – the No. 11 Toyota driver celebrated on the track with the most epic burnout NASCAR fans have seen all year.
When most drivers circle doing donuts around the track, Hamlin turned his car around on the track to drive back into turns two and one, burning through his tires and shredding them to pieces before coming to a halt in front of the crowd. As he finally stopped, the sound of metal could be heard scraping against the track with absolutely nothing left on his rear left wheel.
Hamlin was able to hold off Kyle Larson – who moved up to second after starting the race last – to take the checkered flag for his 30th career win. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Matt Kenseth and Daniel Suarez finished fourth and sixth, respectively, while Kyle Busch came in 12th.
