Hamlin secures win in 3rd overtime
He gets 44th victory in Talladega race marked by record 13 cautions
Talladega, Ala. Denny Hamlin put himself in position to finally win in the playoffs by hanging at the back to avoid the carnage of the messiest and longest race in Talladega Superspeedway history.
His sweeping three-wide pass in triple overtime Sunday brought an end to the sloppiest race of the season. The Daytona 500 winner surged to the win coming out of the final turn — it was the 58th lead change of a race that went nearly 32 miles, or 12 laps, longer than scheduled.
Talladega was pocked with 13 cautions, two more than the record, and nearly every title contender had some sort of damage.
Hamlin insisted lagging the No. 11 Toyota at the back of the field all day was his strategy all along. Either that, or he was simply the last driver standing when given the chance to win.
“I hate to say it, but you have to play the game. You have to get to the next round,” Hamlin said. “To win the championship, you have to win the last race and you have to get to the last race.”
Fitting for this particular wreck-fest was that Hamlin’s win needed official review. He had gone below the yellow outof-bounds line during the third overtime, but NASCAR ruled the move was legal.
“They were crashing in front of us,” Hamlin shrugged. “Obviously, I got forced down there.”
The crowd of 15,000 — the most allowed to attend the Alabama superspeedway — booed
Hamlin as he was declared the winner. He dismissed any notion of a controversy over the yellow line rule, noting it had been called by NASCAR the same way the entire race.
The race went more than four hours.
The brutality of the day was punctuated by Kyle Busch, who was at last given a merciful exit when he was collected in an accident during the second OT.
The reigning Cup champion is still winless this season and on the verge of playoff elimination. He was involved in a dizzying number of incidents at Talladega, including a 13-car accident in which older brother, Kurt, went airborne over Cole Custer. That accident brought out the first of two red-flag stoppages.
Hamlin raced to his 44th Cup victory, tying him with childhood hero Bill Elliott on the career list. He also earned the
automatic berth into the next round of the playoffs, joining Kurt Busch, winner last week at home track Las Vegas.
Four of 12 drivers will be elim
inated next week at The Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The bottom four in the standings are Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer, Aric Almirola and Austin Dillon.