NASCAR at Texas 2019 Results: Denny Hamlin Earns Win; Clint Bowyer Finishes 2nd

Denny Hamlin cruised by the competition Sunday to take first place at the O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

The No. 11 car led only 45 of the 334 laps this race but won both the second stage and grabbed the checkered flag. Clint Bowyer finished 2.743 seconds off the lead to end up in second place.

Hamlin now has two wins on the season along with the Daytona 500 and still has plenty of time to add to that total as he continues to climb the standings.

Final Results

1. Denny Hamlin (11)

2. Clint Bowyer (14)

3. Daniel Suarez (41)

4. Erik Jones (20)

5. Jimmie Johnson (48)

6. William Byron (24)

7. Aric Almirola (10)

8. Kevin Harvick (4)

9. Kurt Busch (1)

10. Kyle Busch (18)

Full results available at NASCAR.com.

Hamlin only took control with about 10 laps remaining, but it came at the right time, as he was able to pull away and earn a hard-fought victory:

This came after two different violations on pit road.

"We still haven't executed a clean race all year, but we've got two wins this year," Hamlin said after the race, per Kelly Crandall of Racer. "I can't wait until we start executing."

Jimmie Johnson began on the pole and controlled a quiet first 60 laps until he needed to pit for fuel. 

Joey Logano eventually took advantage, moving to the front for the final seven laps of the first stage to earn the playoff point:

Johnson fought all the way back to second place in Stage 1 despite the late stop, but he fell back into the pack afterward while also dealing with some trouble pitting.

Hamlin moved ahead and took Stage 2, although that portion of the race flew by with only three cautions in the first 170 laps. Kyle Larson driving into the wall created the only slowdown of the stretch.

Unfortunately, Hamlin wasn't able to bask in his stage victory for too long thanks to some mistakes from the pit crew:

It seemed as though this could bury his chances of a win, although his day was just beginning.

There was plenty of movement over the second half of the race with different drivers moving to the front.

Ryan Blaney appeared ready to compete for a win after leading 45 laps, but he was forced to the garage early because of an engine issue. 

Kyle Busch then made a big move to the front with about 100 laps left but fell back after hitting the wall:

Erik Jones took advantage at first, but it was also a short stint until Hamlin cycled into the front. His final 10 laps went exactly to plan, as he avoided traffic and pulled out his second win of the season.

The schedule will now move to Bristol Motor Speedway next Sunday for the Food City 500.