The Cheez-It 355 at The Glen turned into a race of survival and Denny Hamlin persevered during the intense final laps to triumph on the high-speed 2.45-mile Watkins Glen International road course. My hope was that we could be pushed backwards (so he wouldn’t have to leave the car).
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Five-time Watkins Glen victor Tony Stewart, who’s retiring after the season, qualified third in the final road race of his career, followed by Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch.
“A lot of times in these things too, it’s kind of amusing, it kind of strikes a conversation, somewhat kind of strikes a relationship you didn’t have with that particular driver”. Yes, he could still fade back and end up being a bust, but he is a rock solid road racer who could easily finish right around where he is starting.
“By doing that, you’re being a little defensive and you’re not getting 100% out of your race vehicle”. When the race restarted, Logano went wide and Truex passed him for second.
Hamlin led the final ten laps after passing Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch to take the lead on a restart on lap 81. “It just sucks; they are going to have to start building some more race cars because he has got a few coming”. “I just tried the best I could and overshot the corner, and I didn’t want to do it this time, and so I probably under-drove and let those guys be a little closer than I should’ve”. “Kyle just got caught up in something that we never should have been around”. As they entered the final corner, they touched and the impact sent Truex Jr. around while Keselowski raced by.
Overall, this lineup avoids any boom-or-bust options starting up front, and it provides me with opportunities to log a decent amount of points in categories other than laps led, which is diminished by the small number of laps in Sunday’s race.
Truex Jr was playing offence and defense as he was trying to past Hamlin and block off Keselowski.
“Just don’t know what to expect (Sunday) honestly”, said AJ Allmendinger.
After creating the customary cloud of smoke before his third straight trip to victory lane at Watkins Glen International, Joey Logano was beaming. Allmendinger, who was charging at the finish, spun Larson coming to the line. Keselowski was committed to make a cross over move on Truex Jr, but accidentally bumped the No. 78 and spun Truex Jr out. That is a free spot for both of us and [he] just dumped me. “He knows the situation he was in, you’ve got to tough it out, and he did”. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has now won on every discipline track in the Sprint Cup Series – superspeedways, intermediate tracks, short tracks and now road courses.
Edwards wins Sprint Cup pole at Watkins Glen – Carl Edwards won the pole for the Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen International on Saturday in Watkins Glen, New York.
Jeff Gordon, making another start in the No. 88 Hendrick Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Jr., was the first to be penalized for speeding when he pitted early on lap 13 to fix damage to the front of his vehicle after an incident in the Inner Loop. After a red flag that lasted for 16 minutes, 44 seconds, the race restarted on Lap 86.
ALMOST THERE: Buescher finished 30th and sits three points out of 30th in driver points. As soon as the caution came back out, they hustled, got it back fixed up, rolling, pretty much saved our day.
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Edwards, who was also slowed by a crash, finished 15th in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Hamlin said to NASCAR.
