“We wish him the best, his retirement”, Patty Kabala said. I just wanted him to know I wasn’t happy after the race. With the road-course win pairing with a Daytona 500 victory earlier in the season, Hamlin also adds two major wins to his resume.
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The sixth caution flew on lap 78 for a blown engine and erased a 5-second lead the two leaders had built over Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Joey Logano, who was seeking his second straight sweep of the Cup and Xfinity races at The Glen.
“Seeing that this is Tony’s last time seeing that he’s retiring I’d really like to see him get a win”, Don Harter said. “Really, I didn’t anything special”, Hamlin said. Logano capitalized on the mistake to steal second, while Keselowski came home third.
“We learned some important things I think”. “But our Haas Automation Chevy was really good”.
Jeff Gordon, making another start in the No. 88 Hendrick Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Jr., was the first to be penalized for speeding when he pitted early on lap 13 to fix damage to the front of his vehicle after an incident in the Inner Loop. Scott Zeron became the second youngest driver to win the race for 3-year-olds, getting the son of Muscle Hill to the wire a nose ahead of last year’s 2-year-old champion and the pre-race favorite. I thought we were going to hit a couple walls but he kept me on the road like he promised and it was great.
Although the yellow flag waved only once in the first half of the 90-lap race, by the time the checkered flag had flown the yellow flag waved a total of eight times, with two of those leading to red flags for track clean-up after multi-car incidents. A tire out of the pit box was costly for pole-sitter Carl Edwards. Logano looked to be on a two-stop strategy, waiting until lap 34 to make his first stop. He would lead 8 laps and battle at the front all afternoon at the NY road course. He gave up the lead to his Team Penske teammate, Keselowski, to pit during the yellow flag.
Despite enduring pain he described as the worst he had ever experienced during the course of a race, Hamlin maintained his poise while many others lost theirs.
BUESCHER SURVIVES: Despite a pit road penalty and a late crash, Chris Buescher remained on the cusp of making the Chase for the Sprint Cup title despite finishing 30th, one lap down.
“I saw them shoot forward and lunge into the corner and I knew there was no possible way to get out with any sensible speed”, Hamlin said.
Kyle Larson, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch round out the top five starters.
Stewart finished in the top five in fifth for his final race at Watkins Glen International.
As crew chief Mike Wheeler put it after Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at the Glen, Denny Hamlin wouldn’t have driven his auto if the schedule simply called for a practice session.
For Denny Hamlin, the wait for NASCAR’s a return to a road course must have seemed like an eternity.
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When the green flag waves for the 2016 Cheez-It 355 it will be the 22nd race of the NASCAR season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He turned. And I just clipped him.
