Denny Hamlin wins wild, wreck-filled RIR race as Chase field set
Denny Hamlin won a wild, caution-filled Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway on a hot Saturday night that left several drivers steamed afterward.
It was the final regular-season race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, with the 16-driver Chase playoff field set in stone once it was settled.
And in the end, after Hamlin had finally taken the checkered flag at the 0.75-mile short track, nothing had changed as far as which drivers were eligible to compete for the 2016 championship over the 10-race Chase. The same 16 drivers who were Chase eligible before the race made up the field after its completion.
Truex and Hamlin, two of those drivers, swapped turns at the front of the field through a seemingly endless sea of cautions, combining to lead 325 of the first 350 laps.
Kyle Larson jumped up into the mix for the last 50, along with Kyle Busch.
Even then, it was only a matter of time before Hamlin resumed the lead with Truex right on his bumper.
They started 1-2 on the final green-white-checkered overtime restart, with Truex, scored in second, starting on the outside and Hamlin, as the leader, on the inside. Hamlin soared away on the restart, with Larson passing Truex for second on the final lap.
For Hamlin, who started from the pole, it was his third win of the season and also the third of his career at RIR, which the Chesterfield, Virginia native considers his home track.
"That's what's so special about it. ... I see all the extra Denny Hamlin shrts and hats everything and it fires me up every time I get here," Hamlin said.
Truex finished third, followed by Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick.
But first there was a real mess to clean up after Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart triggered a multi-car wreck with 37 to go, bringing out a red flag for track cleanup and sending Newman into a tirade about his former boss, whom he insisted Stewart blatantly wrecked him.
"The 14 (SHR Chevy of Stewart) cut across my nose going into Turn 1. I got into him after that, but he had already chopped into me and messed up my line," said Newman, who drove for owner-driver Stewart at SHR from 2009 through 2013, when Newman was replaced by Harvick.
"I clipped him a little bit coming off (Turn) 2, but then he just came across my nose going down the back straightway there," Newman added. "I guess he thought he was in a sprint car again and couldn't control his anger."
Stewart did not deny that he wrecked Newman on purpose.
Told Newman said Stewart's move was intentional, the three-time Cup champion replied: "He's right. I mean, that was the third time he had driven into me during the night. How many times does a guy get a free pass until you've had enough of it?
"So, you know, he's got to do his part racing to get in there (to the Chase) to race for a championship. And if you're going to run into guys. ... I go into (Turn) 1 and he dive-bombs in there. I was already coming down. It's not like I was trying to squeeze him into the infield or something."
Newman knew he needed to win Saturday night's race to earn a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup playoffs.
And after an eventful up-and-down night, he made it all the up to 10th with 37 laps to go in what had been originally scheduled as a 400-lap event. Then, as he attempted to pass Stewart for ninth, absolute disaster struck and any hopes he had of making the Chase field evaporated.
Newman indeed made contact at least twice with the rear of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevy of Tony Stewart, but then Stewart did appear to come down across the nose of Newman's car.
"It's just disappointing that you've got somebody old like that's retiring â should be retired the way he drives -- it's just ridiculous," Newman said. "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 just being bipolar and having anger issues."
There were many other incidents earlier in the race, including one between the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford of Trevor Bayne and the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford of Ryan Blaney, who got the worst of it on Lap 11.
The problem was that the contact cut down the left-rear tire of Blaney, who shortly thereafter went sailing into the outside wall when he lost the tire completely.
"Apparently the 6 just came up and got us in the rear," said Blaney, one of many drivers who needed to win the race to get into the Chase. "It was probably a stubborn-headed thing by both of us. I should know better than that."
Another incident involved Chase Elliott, who entered the night Chase-eligible on points and was attempting to stay out of harm's way to keep it that way.
That didn't quite happen when he was collateral damage after Elliott's Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jeff Gordon, made contact with the No. 31 of Newman shortly after a restart on Lap 92.
The resulting impact forced Elliott to pit road for repairs, after which he restarted the race 25th, the last car on the lead lap when the green flag came out again on Lap 101.
Elliott rallied to finish 19th and nail down a Chase spot, joining Austin Dillon, who finished 13th in the race, and Jamie McMurray, who finished seventh, as the three drivers to get into the Chase on points without winning over the 26-race regular season.
The 13 drivers who had previously won races already were assured of getting in, although Hamlin earned an extra three bonus points for Round 1 of the elimination-style format by winning at RIR.
There ended up being a record 16 cautions in all Saturday night, as one driver after another seemed to have difficulty keeping tires from going down and causing calamity.
Newman was mad at Stewart. Matt Kenseth was ticked off with Brad Keselowski. David Ragan's car caught fire after he caught the bad end of the Newman-Stewart dustup.
And through it all, Hamlin sailed to victory. He ended up leading 189 laps in all, four short of the race-high total of 193 that Truex led.
But Hamlin led the right one: the last one. And while so many others left RIR in a foul mood, he left smiling about his chances of scoring his first championship by coming out on top in the Chase.
"It's a great team effort here," Hamlin said. "We've got everything going for us."
