Wild finish ends with Busch crossing first
Big loser is Elliott, who wrecks after bump by Hamlin
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Chase Elliott could have won at Martinsville Speedway. Same for Brad Keselowski, and Denny Hamlin, too.
It was Kyle Busch, though, who punched his ticket into NASCAR’s championship racewith the victory.
Busch moved Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Hamlin out of his way in overtime to win Sunday at Martinsville and earn a spot in the championship race for the third consecutive year. He won the series title in 2015.
It was a ho-hum race that got very intense, very quickly, in the waning laps and ended with a multicar wreck after Busch took the checkered flag.
Keselowski was in position to win when Joey Logano developed a tire problem with about 10 laps remaining in regulation. Had his Team Penske teammate pitted under green to fix the tire, Keselowski likely would have coasted to the win and earned the spot in the finale.
Instead, Logano spun and brought out a caution.
Keselowski was moved out of the way by Elliott after a restart, and Hamlin spun Elliott out of the lead with two laps remaining in regulation. Elliott wrecked, chased Hamlin down on the cool-down lap to show his displeasure, and the drivers had a heated exchange after they climbed from their cars.
It was a disastrous result for Elliott — from potential race winner to 27th, lowest of the eight remaining playoff drivers.
“My mom always said if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all,” Elliott said. “He’s not worth my time. I got punted from behind and wrecked in Turn 3 leading the race. I don’t know what his problem was. It was unnecessary and I hadn’t raced him dirty all day long.
“We had the best car I’ve ever had here at Martinsville, and had an opportunity to go straight to Homestead and because of him we don’t.”
Elliott could repeatedly be seen saying “you wrecked me” to Hamlin as the crowd roared its approval over the tension.
Hamlin, meanwhile, faded to seventh after Busch bumped him for the win.