Hamlin’s not hurtin’
JOLIET, Ill. — Denny Hamlin vowed to make it to the championship round of NASCAR’s playoffs, and nothing so far is getting in his way.
Not a torn anterior cruciate ligament suffered playing basketball just days before the regular-season finale.
Not a horrible day of practice that resulted in an awful starting position for the opening round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.
Not a spin yesterday two laps into the race that dropped him to last in the field at Chicagoland Speedway and one lap down from the leaders.
Hamlin stepped up and once again showed his resilience by rallying for a surprise victory in the first race of the 10-race Chase. The win for Joe Gibbs Racing — a heavy favorite to win the championship — earned Hamlin an auto- matic berth into the second round of the playoffs.
“Go have some fun the next two weeks, that’s for sure. Takes some pressure off of us,” Hamlin said about his strategy for the next two weeks.
It was a decidedly different mood for reigning champion Kevin Harvick, who vowed four days ago not to be intimidated by JGR’s recent muscle and said “we’re going to pound them into the ground” during the Chase.
Instead, contact with Jimmie Johnson on a restart caused a tire rub. Harvick thought the issue had fixed itself, but his left rear tire blew two laps later and he was in the wall. The drivers ended their day with a post-race altercation.
The trouble for Harvick was as surprising as Hamlin’s win. Hamlin’s rough Friday practice meant he had to start 29th when qualifying was rained out. Hamlin said his toughest task was going to be showing patience in the early laps of the race as he tried to move a fast Toyota through traffic, but he spun trying to pick his way toward the front on the second lap.
Now last and a lap down, it seemed he had no shot.
But his JGR team didn’t panic, and crew chief Dave Rogers used a gutsy call not to pit during the final caution to give Hamlin an opening. Hamlin slid to the bottom of the track to make it three-wide as he jumped from third to first on the restart with five laps remaining. Once past Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch, he easily cruised to JGR’s third consecutive win and ninth in the last 12 races.
Carl Edwards rallied from a speeding penalty to finish second and give JGR and Toyota a 1-2 finish.
Kurt Busch, who was headed for the win until the final caution was called with 10 laps remaining, was third and disappointed at the timing of the caution.
“It was the difference maker today,” Busch said. “My Chevy was fast, fast enough to win.”
Headed into New Hampshire, the four drivers needing to make a big move off the elimination bubble are Jamie McMurray, Paul Menard, Clint Bowyer and Harvick.