Stenhouse holds on for victory in overtime
just so, so proud of him. He works his butt off. He works harder than any driver I know. He works tirelessly.”
Stenhouse started from the pole and praised the power from his Doug Yates-built engine for the speed. Then he used that speed to snatch the race away with a last-lap pass of Busch.
The first two stages of the race were calm, and it was the final stretch to the checkered flag that got heated.
The race was stopped for nearly 27 minutes because of an accident that saw AJ Allmendinger’s car flipped on its roof with 19 laps remaining.
The damage was just as bad for Chase Elliott, who got turned by Allmendinger into the wall. Elliott was then hit by Joey Logano, and that contact caused Elliott’s car to lift onto Logano’s hood.
Much of the delay in racing was so workers could turn Allmendinger’s car back on to its wheels so Allmendinger could exit.
NASCAR listed 18 cars as sustaining damage in the accident.
When the red flag was lifted, many of those cars darted to pit road for frantic repairs under NASCAR’s new fiveminute rule. If a team can’t fix its damage on pit road in five minutes, the car is ruled out of the race.
The race restarted with 15 laps remaining and Busch as the leader. Any shot Dale Earnhardt Jr. had at winning evaporated moments later when he was forced to pit with a loose wheel.
There was a caution called with 10 laps remaini n g because Landon Cassill couldn’t get his disabled car off the track, and that allowed Earnhardt to get back on the lead lap. He was 23rd with seven laps to go when the race resumed.
But no one had enough to catch leader Busch as the field was setting itself up for a frantic dash to the finish. Then Ryan Newman spun with three laps remaining to send the race into overtime.
Busch was listed as the leader, followed by Stenhouse, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne and Jamie McMurray. Stenhouse got a push from McMurray around Busch and made it stick for the win.