Denny Hamlin held off Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. on the final lap of the Cheez-It 355 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International on Sunday to claim his first career road course victory.
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Running inside of the top 10 throughout the day, Hamlin snuck into the lead late in the race when a poor restart from leader Brad Keselowski and second-place Kyle Busch sent both drivers sailing up the track and out of contention in turn 1 of the 2.45-mile WGI.
Joey Logano, instead, finished second, with Keselowski, A.J. Allmendinger and Tony Stewart rounding out the top five. He officiated Pittsburgh’s 1979 Super Bowl victory over Dallas, Washington’s 1983 Super Bowl win over Miami, the New York Giants’ 1991 Super Bowl win over Buffalo and Dallas’ 1994 Super Bowl victory over Buffalo.
“Really doubted being in the race vehicle today”, Hamlin said. The strategy hit a snag, though, when his first stop led to two when he was penalized for speeding on pit road. “I was thinking under the (last) red flag let’s get this over with so I can get out of this auto”. I hit him from behind and that is my fault.
RED FLAG: Keselowski led for much of the latter half of the race and his attempts to save fuel were helped with 14 laps left when Alex Kennedy’s race auto had an engine expire on the front stretch, prompting a caution after it bled fluids onto the track.
“It’s very hard to win these races”, Hamlin said.
The sixth caution flew on lap 78 for a blown engine in Alex Kennedy’s No. 55 Chevrolet and erased a 5-second lead the two leaders had built over Hamlin, Truex and Logano.
Stewart, who is retiring after the season, will finish his stellar Cup career with eight road wins, one fewer than the record nine of Jeff Gordon.
Logano got back to the front and retook the lead, getting by Kurt Busch before the third caution of the race on lap 53. After pitting during a caution on lap 49, Keselowski stayed out and remained on the race track for the remainder of the race. “I’ve finally won at all of the (types of) race tracks, so it’s a great accomplishment for us”. You make a commitment before you know what is going to happen and I made a commitment and it didn’t work out. Earnhardt visited Watkins Glen on Friday and is recovering from a concussion.
Road course racing can be a huge factor in determining if a driver makes the Chase or not, and the race this year at the Glen was no different. The big one came when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. lost control of his No. 17 Ford coming out of the sweeping right-hander and skidded across the track.
Edwards started on the pole and led the first 25 laps before making his first pit stop on lap 26 and handing the lead over to Logano. Greg Biffle and Austin Dillon are also involved. Stewart is the all-time wins leader at Watkins Glen with five. “I just cost Kyle a good finish and I’m pissed off at myself”.
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UP NEXT: Night race at Bristol on August 20.
