Monday Racing Roundup: Hamlin Wins Chase Opener at Chicagoland
September 21, 2015 | By IMS
In the theater, using the expression "Break a leg" is a way to wish an actor good luck on opening night.
Twelve days before Sunday’s opening Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway, Denny Hamlin tore the ACL in his right leg playing basketball.
Late in the myAFibRisk.com 400 at the 1.5-mile track, Hamlin found his good fortune in the form of a serendipitous pit call on the part of crew chief Dave Rogers.
Staying out on old tires, Hamlin grabbed the lead moments after a restart with five laps left and streaked away to a .963-second victory over Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Carl Edwards, who surged from sixth to second during that restart on Lap 263 of 267.
Hamlin saw an opening as the cars roared toward Turn 1 on the restart.
"It was ballsy, but I’d been stuck so many times three-wide in the middle," Hamlin said of the winning move. "The front cars almost have a disadvantage to the back cars the way it all plays out.
"We got a great restart, and I just held it wide open through (Turns) 1 and 2, and it stuck. We were able to get in that clean air and take off."
Remarkably, Hamlin won from the 29th starting position, rallying from a spin on Lap 2 that left him a lap down. Hamlin didn’t get back on the lead lap until he took advantage of a wave-around before a restart on Lap 129.
"Luckily, that one caution (for debris on the backstretch on Lap 122) came out that allowed us to get the wave-around and get back on the lead lap," Hamlin said. "We had a fast car, and that was the most important thing. We stretched out there at the end even with no tires.
"I’m proud of this effort. The pit crew did a phenomenal job again and now we’re looking forward to the next round."
Hamlin’s first victory at Chicagoland, his second of the season and the 16th of his career ensured the driver of the No. 11 JGR Toyota will advance from the Challenger Round to the Contender Round of the Chase, as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to New Hampshire and the second race of the postseason.
Reigning champion Kevin Harvick wasn’t as fortunate. The driver who vowed to pound the JGR drivers into the ground three days before the Chase began instead pounded the Turn 3 wall with the rear of his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Chevrolet after contact with Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 Chevy during a Lap 135 restart flattened Harvick’s left rear tire.
"I got a pretty good restart, and obviously, the 22 (Joey Logano) and 48 got a good run, and I just held my line and the 48 just slammed into the side of my door," Harvick said. "That was pretty much it."
Johnson had a simple explanation for the contact.
"He was pinning me down, and I’ve got to get back up on the track," Johnson said. "I wouldn’t say that what he did is any different than other situations I’ve been in like that. When you’re in Kevin’s situation, you want to give that inside car a bad angle, so they’ve got to lift.
"I was fine with lifting, but I had to get back on the racetrack. So I worked my way back onto the track… I pulled down inside of him, and then we were door-to-door, and then, as I moved back into the racing groove, that’s when we touched door-to-door, tire-to-tire."
Now last in the Chase standings, Harvick feels he must win one of the next two races to advance to the Contender Round. That’s not a new position for the driver of the No. 4 Chevy. Last year he triumphed in a must-win situation at Phoenix before taking the checkered flag at Homestead to secure his first premier series title.
NASCAR XFINITY Series: Kyle Busch tops teammate Kenseth
In a race where teammates raced like archrivals to the checkered flag, Kyle Busch surged ahead of Matt Kenseth with a crossover move on the next-to-last lap and won by .791 seconds over his Joe Gibbs Racing stablemate at Chicagoland Speedway Saturday night.
The two JGR cars were the clear class of the field, but after they swapped the lead three times on Laps 176 through 178, Busch pulled out to an advantage of more than one second over Kenseth. With Busch trying to save a half-lap of fuel, however, Kenseth closed the gap in the waning laps and roared past his teammate on Lap 199, as both drivers were trying to dodge the lapped car of John Wes Townley.
With Kenseth powering his No. 20 Toyota deep into Turn 3 after making the pass, Busch was able to cross over and retake the lead to the inside as Kenseth lost momentum.
Busch pulled away on the final lap to win his fourth XFINITY Series race of the season, his fourth at Chicagoland and the 74th of his career, extending his own series record.
Busch’s car, however, was too low on all four corners when the ride height was measured during post-race inspection. NASCAR is taking the car to its tech center in Concord, N.C., for further evaluation. If penalties are warranted, they will be announced next week.
Darrell Wallace Jr. used fuel-mileage strategy to perfection in finishing third, coaxing 67 laps out of his last tank of gas. Paul Menard ran fourth, followed by Ty Dillon, who moved into second place in the series standings, trailing leader Chris Buescher (seventh on Saturday) by 25 points.
Defending XFINITY Series champion Chase Elliott ran 14th and dropped one position to third in points, 28 behind Buescher.