In 10 career Sprint Cup Series starts at Watkins Glen, Denny Hamlin had never led a single lap, but on Sunday, Hamlin benefited from some hard racing up front between Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch in the closing laps that left an opening for Hamlin to take the lead with ten laps to go and then held on through a final four-lap shootout for his second win of the season. Hamlin notched a mistake-free final lap, after missing the final turn at Sonoma Raceway in June and allowing Tony Stewart to win there. It’s his first career victory at a road course and it did not come easy. As the cars neared the exit from Turn 7, with Truex running second and Keselowski third, contact from Keselowski’s No. 2 Ford sent Truex’s No. 78 Toyota spinning. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver led the way from the final restart for four laps until the end of the 90-lap race. The driver broke his back in a March 2013 crash with Logano, but had suffered from back issues before that injury. “Really doubted being in the race vehicle today, to be honest with you, but can’t say enough about this whole FedEx Freight Toyota team”, he continued. “Finally, something Brad and I can agree on”.
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After the race, Keselowski went over and apologized to Truex and the two appeared fine with one another. Along with his Daytona 500 victory, he also has won the Southern 500 and an All-Star race.
Truex then moved onto the bumper of Keselowski’s vehicle before they exited the track; Keselowski went over to talk with Truex on pit road after the race.
“Yeah, it was obviously my fault when you run into the back of somebody”, Keselowski admitted. At the last minute he came back up when I was already committed. Everyone just seems to be putting themselves in bad positions they can’t get out of, and that’s how it ends up the way it does. Truex ended up eighth.
“You know, for us, kind of hoped we’d get a lot more than what we did”, Buescher said.
“It’s very hard to win these races”, Hamlin said. I just wanted him to know I wasn’t happy after the race.
Lap 78: A.J. Allmendinger forced to drop behind Kyle Larson for not maintaining speed with caution auto. Over 2 ½ hours, physical and mental errors have a way of piling up on the part of both driver and pit crew and we witnessed plenty.
“I’ve got a pretty good routine that I do during the week that helps with that”. He would lead 8 laps and battle at the front all afternoon at the NY road course.
During the race, two red flags were given out in two different wrecks. The track announced its second straight grandstand sellout.
RED FLAG II: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s loss of control over a curb in Turn 7 on Lap 53 promoted a multi-car accident that cued a red flag. These collisions took out many front-runners, including Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick and Austin Dillon.
“I turned him, not on goal”, Allendinger told NBCSN.
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The No. 78 vehicle had something to say to the No. 2 as they wound around one final time, but for the sake of the children, Keselowski apologized later for the hit and the men shook hands. I was under him.
