WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (AP) — Denny Hamlin never got a chance to compete for victory at Watkins Glen after being caught in a first-lap crash that eliminated fellow playoff driver Ryan Blaney from the race.
Hamlin recovered to later earn a stage point, but he ultimately spun and nosedived his Toyota tagged the wallHe finished 23rd and was relegated to 13th in the NASCAR playoff standings, six points behind Ty Gibbs at the playoff finish line.
It’s not ideal for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, though his familiar bravado hasn’t wavered as NASCAR heads to Bristol Motor Speedway for the final playoff race of the first round.
“I think we can go out there and win,” Hamlin said. “We’re going to an oval, to a regular track. We can control our own destiny out there.”
Hamlin, who has 54 career victories, can be confident about his chances at Bristol. He has won two straight years at the track and has four career victories at the .533-mile oval.
That should put a strain on the drivers around him who are fighting for a place in the field of 12.
Four drivers will be eliminated from the race Saturday night. Joey Logano won the first round of the playoffs at Atlanta Motor Speedway to earn a spot in the second round. Chris Buescher spoiled the playoff party with a victory Sunday at Watkins Glen International, leading a field of five non-playoff drivers into the finish.
Hamlin, NASCAR Cup Series champions Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr., and Harrison Burton are in the final four. Christopher Bell finished 14th at the Glen and holds a comfortable 46-point lead in the standings.
“It wasn’t pretty how we got there, but we got there and now we can go to Bristol and relax a little bit more,” Bell said.
Watkins Glen was a disaster for most of the playoff drivers. Chase Briscoe finished the best of the 16 drivers, in sixth. At least 11 playoff drivers had problems, including a tough scene late in the race where Keselowski and William Byron crashed while battling for position. Byron’s Chevrolet landed on top of Keselowski’s Ford with six laps to go in the scheduled 90-lap race.
Ten playoff drivers were ranked in the final 21.
Briscoe Rocks
No driver in the playoffs had a better comeback in the standings than Briscoe. The Stewart-Hass Racing driver, who was trying to win a title for the team in his final season, arrived at the Glen in 16th place and with a 21-point lead at the finish line. His sixth-place finish propelled him to 11th place and a six-point lead at the finish line.
Briscoe, who won at Darlington to clinch a playoff spot, has never finished better than 13th in five career Cup races at Bristol.
“I don’t think we’re underdogs,” Briscoe said. “Some people may have written us off already, but me and our whole race team, we all feel like we can win it all. It’s probably crazy coming from a guy who didn’t even look like he could do it, but the way we look at it is if we can win the Southern 500, we can probably win any race all season.”
Briscoe, who is signed to drive for Joe Gibbs Racing next season, relished the pressure in the final days of the SHR program that won NASCAR titles with Tony Stewart in 2011 and Kevin Harvick in 2014.
“No other team can compare to what we’re going through, and no other team feels the same emotions that we do, so I think that’s what makes us so scary,” he said. “We have a lot on our shoulders and that gives us a lot of pride. We’re just a unique racing team right now.”
Champions in decline
Truex, the 2017 champion, had a farewell season to forget as he heads into retirement without a win. The JGR driver finished 20th at the Glen and is 15th in the standings, 14 points off the finish line. He has never won at Bristol in 37 total starts.
Keselowski has just one win this season — he won another as an owner with Buescher at RFK Racing — and was in a late-race crash Sunday. He finished 26th, dropping 12 points behind Ty Gibbs to 12th.
2012 champion, Keselowski has three victories at Bristol (2011, 2012, 2020).
Blaney argued that his race team should have been allowed to try to repair his Ford in the pit lane after the first-lap crash. His car was towed to the garage and his race ended. Last season’s Cup champion, Blaney is still in a strong position, sitting eighth and with a 29-point lead. He has never won at Bristol.
The last word
The full field: Logano is through to the second round thanks to his win in Atlanta. Bell, Austin Cindric, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez, Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, Blaney, Kyle Larson, Byron, Briscoe and Gibbs round out the field of 12.
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