For the second time in as many races at Richmond, Denny Hamlin led the most laps, but faltered in the end with a disappointing 17th-place finish in Friday night’s Virginia 529 Savings Plan 250 Nationwide Series race.

Hamlin started first, side-by-side with teammate Kyle Busch. He got a great start on the race and led until the second caution when a bobble on the right front lug nut dropped him to third behind Brad Kaselowski and Busch. The same issue in the pits bothered him in the third caution and dropped him to sixth. But Hamlin’s starts kept him competitive all night.

He jumped out on Busch again out of the second caution and jumped to second. After the third caution’s bad luck, Hamlin jumped to fourth on the restart, charged to second by lap 141, and took the lead in lap 143.

Hamlin led through lap 200 when eventual second-place finisher, Kevin Harvick, cut underneath and edged Hamlin out for the lead. The pair battled through lap 205 when Hamlin tried to take the high side, got loose in turn four, and hit Harvick and the wall. Hamlin kept control, but damage to the left side forced him into the pits.

“Everybody was just slipping and sliding at that point, and I think he just got loose and got in the side of me a little bit,” Harvick said afterward. “No harm, no foul, just racing hard and a few donuts down the side, and that was about it.”

Hamlin apologized to Harvick over the radio after the incident and reentered the race a lap down. The fresh tires and fuel allowed him to get back on the lead lap during the fifth and final caution in lap 205. He finished 17th after leading 101 laps.

Hamlin and Busch were battling for top position within the JGR team on the track for two different charities. Sponsor of the Joe Gibbs Racing Nos. 18 and 20 cars, Z-Line, pledged $20,000 to the charity of choice for the top finisher of the teammates. JGR pitched in $10,000 to make the bet that whoever finished first would get $20,000 for their charity and whoever finished second would get $10,000 for their charity. Hamlin earned $10,000 for Operation Helmet. Busch’s portion went to Racing for Children.

Sara Page is the sports editor for the Midlothian Exchange.