Denny Hamlin has captured the pole for Saturday night’s Sprint Cup race at Richmond International Raceway. That’s how Buescher got to victory lane at Pocono, where he didn’t pit as weather closed in on the race track and inherited the lead in time for the race to be called. “We were really competitive in the first race, and I think we’ll bring back a similar setup, but a better vehicle, and work from there in practice”.
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“Looks like Brad (Keselowski) missed a shift or something, and then he just had his angle all wrong and drove into the corner 3 vehicle lengths too far because he didn’t want to lose the spot”, Kenseth told NBCSN after the wreck.
In the money round of Friday’s knockout qualifying session, the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota toured.75-mile Richmond International Raceway in 22.069 seconds (122.344 mph) to earn the top starting spot for tonight’s Federated Auto Parts 400.
Truex failed post-race laser inspection. If penalties are warranted, they will be announced before the Chase begins.
Newman, who was having a frustrating day and not appearing to be able to make up the 22 points he needed on Jamie McMurray to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup, took a shot at Stewart, who was involved in a tragedy in August 2014, when he struck and killed Kevin Ward Jr.in a sprint auto race.
Caution Flags: 16 for 89 laps.
Lap 222 – Debris on track. After multiple pit stops, Blaney eventually finished 40th.
“I only hit him in Turn 1 when he cut across my nose, so I don’t think there was any reason other than him being bipolar and having anger issues”. A dozen drivers already qualified for the Chase and two others, Chase Elliott and Austin Dillon, were in virtually invulnerable positions to qualify at the drop of the green flag. Busch dominated and won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Richmond on Friday night, leading 197 of 250 laps. While a win would automatically move him into the “playoffs”, he realistically only needs to score a solid finish to lock in a berth.
Lap 245 – David Ragan flat and front end damage. Paul Menard gets free pass.
Casey Mears and Matt DiBenedetto collided in Turn 3 on Lap 279, but the No. 13 vehicle rolled on.
(37) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 390.
Keselowski took third followed by Harvick.
Lap 336 – Matt Kenseth hits wall.
But it was an eight-car wreck on Lap 363 that almost dashed the hopes of Chris Buescher on Saturday. McMurray’s closest competitor, Ryan Newman, was knocked out of contention early when former teammate Tony Stewart, saying he was unhappy with the way Newman had bumped him, forced Newman into the inside wall. After the drivers made contact through Turns 1 and 2, they wrecked on the back stretch with Buescher behind.
We’ve seen what happens when that line is crossed and it’s not cordial.
Sunoco rookies Chase Elliott and Chris Buescher both weathered some tense moments to qualify for NASCAR’s 10-race playoff, the first time two rookies have ever been included in the Chase field-and the first time any rookie has made the Chase since Hamlin accomplished the feat in 2006. Hard for me not to say it’s 9 1/2 at this point.
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“I said that I thought we were like an 8 1/2 on momentum”, Hamlin said. Once we get through that, I’ll worry about Week 2. Before that point, he had led a race-high 175 laps. That sent the race into overtime for a two-lap sprint to determine the victor.
