Truex tried to make a late move on Hamlin but spun out when Keselowski hit him from behind.
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Hamlin was holding off on a charging Martin Truex Jr (No. 78) and Brad Keselowski (No. 2) who were there to battle Hamlin for the lead. But to complete a road course, a super-speedway and a short track all in the same season is worth of at least a footnote. For a few laps, Truex Jr was able to keep Keselowski behind him until the last turn of the last lap. Drivers were stacked up and an accident broke out collecting seven drivers. He said the Gibbs team made changes since Sonoma that improved his feel for the auto under braking. “I finally have won at all the racetracks”. However, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was able to hold off Truex Jr and Keselowski and get the win. “Obviously, it’s my fault”, Keselowski said.
“That’s not something you really want to hear”, said Wheeler, describing the wake-up text. “This track here, when you drive into the corner, you commit and sometimes you don’t know what will happen when you commit”.
“We got some breaks, there, at the end”, Stewart said. Keselowski finished in third and Truex Jr in seventh. “And then, it was just about hitting my marks and making sure that I didn’t give those a chance like I gave Tony (Stewart) a chance at Sonoma”. It’s just hard racing. The last thing I wanted to do was turn him. Hamlin said to NASCAR.
Behind them, Kyle Larson (No. 42) and A.J. “I mean, it’s just awesome, insane racing, full contact”. Greg Biffle and Austin Dillon are also involved. The red flag period lasted 13 minutes, 19 seconds. In doing so, Menard went through the grass and dirt leaving a cloud of dirt on the track and drivers behind him couldn’t see. I really hit the auto hard. “But, thankfully he’s okay and everybody is all right”.
“We executed perfectly. Didn’t make any mistakes on pit road”, Hamlin said.
Clauson was leading the race Saturday night when he crashed while passing lapped traffic. Gordon got caught in a small incident with Dillon earlier in the race in the bus stop coming off from the back straightaway. “I am proud of my guys for a really fast race vehicle and it was another insane Watkins Glen day”.
The race was shaping up as another duel between Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch in the closing laps.
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ALMOST THERE: Buescher finished 30th and sits three points out of 30th in driver points. Stewart also was the victor when the Sprint Cup Series last visited a road course, winning at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway in June. The Cheez-It 355 was Gordon’s 800th-career Sprint Cup race. The team was not allowed to work on the vehicle during the red but was prepared to do so promptly when the race went back to yellow. During Edward’s first stop on pit road, the No. 19 team lost control of one of the tires that ended up on the other side of the pit box. Busch recycled seventh as the top auto with the potential to finish on one more stop.
