NASCAR Watkins Glen: Denny Hamlin takes maiden Cup road course win
Denny Hamlin took first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory since the Daytona 500 in February and his maiden road course win at Watkins Glen on Sunday
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver led the way from the final restart for four laps until the end of the 90-lap race.
Hamlin had moved into the lead with nine laps remaining and just before the penultimate caution period. Before today's race, he had never led a lap at Watkins Glen before.
Martin Truex Jr was set for a second-place finish at the end until he spun on the final corner and hit the barrier, handing the position to Joey Logano at the line.
Brad Keselowski was responsible for Truex's spin, and the Furniture Row Racing driver hit Keselowski's Ford a few times on the cool-down lap in retaliation.
With Keselowski finishing third, AJ Allmendinger came through for fourth position ahead of Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch.
Allmendinger appeared to tap Kyle Larson at the final corner, sending the Chip Ganassi Racing car into the wall in similar fashion to Truex's crash.
The race was relatively clean until the final stages, in which a series of cautions played out to recover several multi-car wrecks.
These collisions took out many front-runners, including Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick and Austin Dillon.
In total, there were eight cautions and nine lead changes. Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Carl Edwards and Danica Patrick all led the race for a while.
For the second year in a row, the driver who won the Daytona 500 went on to win at Watkins Glen - Joey Logano completing the same double in 2015.
RESULTS - 90 LAPS:
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 2h27m48.s |
2 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 2.065s |
3 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 2.327s |
4 | A.J. Allmendinger | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 4.656s |
5 | Tony Stewart | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 4.879s |
6 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 5.145s |
7 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row Racing | Toyota | 6.388s |
8 | Jamie McMurray | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 6.272s |
9 | Trevor Bayne | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 6.607s |
10 | Matt Kenseth | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 7.449s |
11 | Kurt Busch | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 7.541s |
12 | Casey Mears | Germain Racing | Chevrolet | 8.026s |
13 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 8.734s |
14 | Jeff Gordon | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 9.130s |
15 | Carl Edwards | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 10.275s |
16 | Ryan Newman | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 9.745s |
17 | Michael McDowell | Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing | Chevrolet | 12.053s |
18 | Clint Bowyer | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet | 12.426s |
19 | Ryan Blaney | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 13.039s |
20 | Kasey Kahne | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 12.888s |
21 | Danica Patrick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 13.091s |
22 | Paul Menard | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 16.224s |
23 | Landon Cassill | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 16.643s |
24 | Boris Said | Go FAS Racing | Ford | 16.974s |
25 | Brian Scott | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 17.884s |
26 | Josh Wise | The Motorsports Group | Chevrolet | 18.532s |
27 | Aric Almirola | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 1m03.800s |
28 | Cole Whitt | Premium Motorsports | Toyota | 1m12.340s |
29 | Kyle Larson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 1 Lap |
30 | Chris Buescher | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 1 Lap |
31 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 1 Lap |
32 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | Accident |
33 | David Ragan | BK Racing | Toyota | Accident |
34 | Matt DiBenedetto | BK Racing | Toyota | Accident |
35 | Regan Smith | Tommy Baldwin Racing | Chevrolet | 13 Laps |
36 | Alex Kennedy | Premium Motorsports | Chevrolet | Engine |
37 | Michael Annett | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet | 16 Laps |
38 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | Accident |
39 | Greg Biffle | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | Accident |
40 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | Accident |
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments