RICHMOND, Va. — Denny Hamlin hoped a visit to the track he watched races at as a youngster would help kickstart a season that started in an uncharacteristic fashion — poorly.

Thanks to some crafty tire strategy that his team timed right, he got it done.

Hamlin ran down William Byron with five laps to go Sunday and ended the slowest start to a season in his career with a victory in the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway.

“You just have a tough season and if things aren’t going well and it seems like the breaks aren’t going you way and then the law of averages say things are going to kind of work out and we get our performance better and today’s the day where it all matched up,” said Hamlin, who started the day 22nd in points.

In a race that featured four sets of green-flag pit stops and a whole lot of tire strategy, Hamlin closed a huge gap between Byron and teammate Martin Truex Jr., passing Truex on the outside and Byron shortly thereafter. He then held off a challenge from Kevin Harvick, a three-time winner at Richmond.

“Yeah, just great strategy there. Just drove as hard as I could,” Hamlin said after climbing from his car. “There was no doubt in my mind, maybe just a little, but they got this car right there towards the end. Wow, unbelievable.”

Hamlin’s 47th career victory was his first at his hometown track since 2016, the first for Toyota in the Next Gen car and gave NASCAR seven different winners in seven Cup Series races.

Harvick was second, followed by Byron, Truex and Kyle Larson.

“Had a shot there at the end,” Harvick said. “I wanted to be close enough with the white to just take a swipe at him.”