Denny Hamlin clinched his spot in the Chase last week at Pocono and followed it up with a win on Sunday at Watkins Glen.
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Fans point and cheer during an NASCAR Xfinity series auto race at Watkins Glen International race track, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2016, in Watkins Glen, N.Y. He departed with two trophies after a weekend sweep of the Xfinity and Sprint Cup races.
“Typical Watkins Glen”, Logano said. There were eight cautions and two red flags in the sold out grandstand Sunday event.
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. “It sucks when it’s anybody in racing, it’s hard when you lose them, but it’s even worse when they’re somebody as close to you as Bryan was”, Stewart said.
Running second, Busch had to pit during the race’s first caution for repairs to his splitter, which was damaged running over the track’s new curbing, and dropped far back in the field. Of course, if one of them wins in the next four races, it would change everything.
“We will need to continue to build on what we’ve built up to this point”, Stewart said.
“What make it feel extra special is when it was game time, when it was go time, we got it done”. Keselowski spun Truex in the turn and Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota coasted to the victory. He was in pain when he awoke.
“At the end of the day, I know he “mans up” when he needs to”, Wheeler continued. Road-course specialist AJ Allmendinger was fourth after he bumped Kyle Larson out of the way near the finish line. Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Carl Edwards and Danica Patrick all led the race for a while.
Hamlin led the final 10 laps with Martin Truex Jr.in his tracks. Keselowski lost the lead on the restart when both he and Busch overdrove the first turn, and Hamlin sneaked past to take the lead before another caution flew. I just tried the best I could and overshot the corner and I didn’t want to do it this time. “It was my opportunity”.
“I got right up to the bumper of the 78 (Truex) and couldn’t do anything there, and he made a move to get by the 11 (Hamlin) on the inside, and the 11 blocked him”, Keselowski said.
Keselowski quickly apologized to Truex for wrecking him, but by then, Hamlin was executing a quarter-mile long victory burnout down the pit straight.
Keselowski finished third, AJ Allmendinger took fourth and five-time race victor Tony Stewart fifth in what was likely his Watkins Glen Sprint Cup finale.
“We got ourselves in position to win the race, but I didn’t have the speed to make it happen”, Logano said.
It is the first career road-course victory for Hamlin, who showed his versatility after winning at Daytona in the first race of the season. Earnhardt is recovering from a concussion and will miss at least two more races.
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A player in last year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup championship until a run-in with Matt Kenseth at Martinsville derailed his title hopes, Logano is on pace to be a factor again when the postseason gets underway in September.
