And that’s exactly what rookies Chris Buescher and Chase Elliott, as well as Jamie McMurray and Austin Dillon, did. For the first time since 2006, when Hamlin made the Chase, two rookies – Buescher and Elliott – qualified for the post-season. Hamlin pulled away on the restart for the final two laps of overtime that followed the last of a track-record 16 cautions.
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Notes: With four victories this season, Kyle Busch starts the Chase next Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway as the top seed with 2,012 points, the same total earned by second-seeded Keselowski, also a four-time victor. Kyle Busch charged through the second half of the racing schedule past year, and claimed his first ever Sprint Cup championship with JGR.
“We need to race aggressively for every position, every point we can get without taking unnecessary risks, ” Buescher said. “We’re going out there to race and have a really good day and avoid the risks that would put us in a bad spot or possibly take us out of this Chase”.
With 12 drivers locked into the Chase by virtue of race wins, four drivers headed into Richmond in the provisional spots to claim Chase berths.
With the exception of Kahne, all top-10 finishers on Saturday will compete in the Chase.
The fireworks, though, came off the track at Richmond International Raceway, where Ryan Newman angrily chided former boss Tony Stewart after an accident between the two officially ended Newman’s chances to make the playoffs. In the next couple of corners, Stewart came down into Newman’s line and appeared to come across the nose of the auto, setting off a chain reaction wreck.
Newman said he bumped into Stewart a little bit after Stewart cut him off and, according to Newman, intentionally drove across the nose of his auto.
Newman had this to say after the race about the 14 and his driving skills, his retirement and Stewart taking him out of chase contention. “So I think it’s really hard to figure out what’s going to happen”. “I clipped him a little bit coming off, but then he just came across my nose going down the back straightaway there”. “We’ll keep fighting like we always do”. We look at this first round, and we want to make it past that round. It’s disappointing that you’ve got somebody old like that retired the way he drives.
Not surprisingly, Stewart had a different perspective.
“How many times does a guy get a free pass”, Stewart told NBC after the race.
“I guess every race you come to, you try to pay attention to what everyone else is doing, ” McCall said. “It was alright for him to do that, and I let him go and gave him room”.
“Early in the race (Newman) ran into me and cut down across my nose”, Stewart said.
As far as the harsh comments, Stewart said Newman was in a pressure-filled situation. “He’ll get his wish. That could happen. But if the race plays out normal we’ve got a really good auto and can have a really good finish”. That sent him home 28th and well outside the mark needed to score enough points to advance to the Chase.
There was already the certainty that 12 drivers had clinched spots, including Hamlin, who won his third race of the season, and defending champ Kyle Busch, who enters the Chase as the No. 1 seed.
Hamlin celebrates Texas-style by shooting off a pair of Turnbull 45 Colt-style, single-action revolvers in Victory Lane after winning the Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in April of 2010.
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(4) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 407.
