Hamlin wins wreck filled Sprint Unlimited
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| Hamlin leads to the checkered |
| Getty Images for NASCAR |
Denny Hamlin took the checkered flag in the Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night, turning in a dominating performance to capture his second win in NASCAR’s pre-season non-point event just one week before the 56th-running the season-opening Daytona 500.
Hamlin won all three segments of the event, leading 27 of 75 laps in a race that saw half the field taken out in crashes, a pace car fire, and even another improbable save by Kyle Busch on a full-moon night in Daytona.
Hamlin powered from the back of the pack over the final five laps, taking the lead for the final time with a bold three-wide pass with two laps to go and holding off Brad Keselowski by three car-length for the victory. Kyle Busch was third, followed by Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick.
Jamie McMurray, Marcos Ambrose and Ryan Newman rounded out the remaining finishers as only eight cars finished the event out of a field of 18.
With the win, Hamlin begins his 2014 Sprint Cup season in the same fashion he ended his 2013 season, with a celebration in Victory Lane, only this time instead of capping off a dismal year with a bittersweet win, he’s looking to take the first step toward getting back into contention for the Sprint Cup title.
“The best car won, that’s for sure," said Hamlin. “It’s a great win. You love starting Speedweeks like this. In 2006, it kind of spring-boarded my career into a great year. There’s no negatives that come out of a day like today."
Hamlin had been a strong contender to compete for the championship in 2013 before suffering a fractured vertebra in a last-lap crash in the fifth race of the season at Fontana that put him out of action for five races and all but ended his chance of making the field for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
But Hamlin soldiered on, made his way back into the race car, and ended the season winning the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
As if Saturday’s night’s victory didn’t answer any doubts that he’s fully recovered, Hamlin brought it up himself on his in-car radio on his cool-down lap: “Any questions?"
“You're always excited about starting the season, but for me it was more about really starting the season strong, to just totally forget about 2013," said Hamlin. “Obviously this is huge motivation and confidence that we can do a lot of great things when all the pieces fall right for us."
Hamlin started on the pole for the race after a fan vote lined up the field by practice speeds, followed by Jamie McMurray, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Kyle Busch and Keselowski.
On the final lap of the first 30-lap segment, the first favorite was out of the race as defending Sprint Cup champion and 2013 Daytona 500 winner Jimmie Johnson spun coming out of turn four and pounded the inside wall just before the entrance to pit road. Johnson was unhurt in the crash, but was done for the night.
Hamlin would go on to win the first segment, leading nine laps, and started out front for the second, 25-lap segment followed by Harvick, Logano, Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards.
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| Tony Stewart, driver of the #14 Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, Jeff Gordon, driver of the #24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet, Kurt Busch, driver of the #41 Haas Automation Chevrolet, and Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 Dollar General Toyota, wreck |
| Getty Images for NASCAR |
The biggest wreck of the night started just five laps into the second segment when Matt Kenseth came down across the nose of Logano’s Ford Fusion, triggering a eight-car pileup that collected Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, Ricky Stenhouse, Danica Patrick and Tony Stewart, who was making his first start since missing the last six months with a broken leg.
Hamlin would lead all 25 laps of the segment to win out over Keselowski, Kyle Busch, McMurray and Ambrose to set up the final 20-lap shootout.
A fan vote determined the starting lineup for the final segment after a mandatory two-tire stop, with Hamlin winning the race off pit road followed by McMurray, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Logano.
Under green, Hamlin quickly got shuffled back as Earnhardt, Jr. and Keselowski traded the lead. Five laps into the segment, Kyle Busch got turned by Keselowski but drove a spectacular save to rejoin the field with minimal damage to his Toyota Camry.
Five laps later, another fan favorite was out as Earnhardt tangled with Ambrose sending them both into the wall, ending Junior’s night while Ambrose was able to continue.
The field lined up for a restart with Logano up front, but the full-moon fever wasn’t quite over yet as the Chevrolet SS pace car pulled off the track with the back end on fire, forcing pace car driver Brett Bodine to stop the car and bail out.
After the cleanup, Logano brought the field to the green flag with five laps to go trailed by Keselowski, McMurray, Ryan Newman and Hamlin.
Hamlin dropped to the tail of the field on the restart but quickly powered back into third place with just three laps to go before setting up his final move with two laps to go.
Going down the backstretch, Hamlin dropped all the way to the yellow line under teammate Kyle Busch, going three wide with Keselowski on the high side before finally clearing Busch and coming back up the track in front of Keselowski and moving out to the three car lead that he held for the final lap.
Keselowski’s runner-up finish was his second top-five in just two starts in this event.
“It was definitely a race of attrition. We survived somewhat till the end," said Keselowski. “Obviously came up one spot short, which in a race like this is all that matters."
Kyle Busch’s save in the finals laps almost earned him his second Sprint Unlimited victory after his equally impressive two-spin save performance during his win in 2012.
“I was just lucky that I didn't get hit by anybody else," said Busch. “As long as nobody ever really messes you up again, you can sort of drive through things, I guess. I've done it now three times, I guess, so I've got experience at it where most others probably don't.
“All in all it turned out. I was lucky enough to get through it, make it on, carry on through the race, finish third. Just shy of what I ended up last time I did that."
QUOTES
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
How strong was your car?
“The best car won, that’s for sure. I can’t thank this FedEx team enough. Thank everyone from FedEx Express, this is good. We’re two in a row now. We’re building on something. Still we had a great car all weekend and got to thank FedEx and Toyota and Sprint. Thank the fans for coming out. That was survival of the fittest for sure. With three (laps) to go we’re at the tail end of a very small pack and it’s really hard to get runs, but this car was just phenomenal and you saw it those last couple laps."
Does this win give the team momentum?
“It’s a great win. You love starting Speedweeks like this. In 2006, it kind of spring-boarded my career into a great year. 2009 winning Homestead spring-boarded us into a great 2010 and a championship run. There’s no negatives that come out of a day like today."
How big is this win?
“It’s big. Every little win, it doesn’t matter whether it’s practice, if it’s happy hour, if it’s qualifying — every little accomplishment goes a long way with the team moral. I think we’re building on something big here."
What was the racing like in the closing laps with such a small pack of cars?
“I was actually surprised, once the pack got widdled down to five or six cars, I was thinking there’s no way you’re going to get a run. It’s extremely hard to get runs and pass the leader, but we made a three-wide move there and we pushed our teammate up there for a battle for the lead. Coming to the white flag I have to do what I have to do to try to get the win."
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
How were the closing laps of the race?
“Just about trying to make the right moves and not having a whole lot of help to do any of it. There’s so little cars out there that you’re just kind of on your own trying to figure things out. That’s kind of the way the race played out tonight. It was the same race for everybody there at the end. All in all, the M&M’s Camry was fast and had to save it again — another Sprint Unlimited where we don’t end up backwards, but we got somehow, somewhat crashed. I made it through it and come home third. We’re happy with that, great for our teammate to close out last year with a win and start out this year with a win. Back problems what?"
Did you need help in order to make passes?
“You need a lot of help. That there early, I got a good run off of turn four and I don’t know if he was on the brakes to kind of back up to me, I think he got out a little too far and I made an educated decision there to just pull alongside him and side draft him, slow him down, get by him and get back in line. It worked, but those are few and far between probably. With only six or seven cars, whatever was there at the end, you can dive bomb each other, you can switch around and all that all you want just because there’s not a big pack of cars where you’re going to get swallowed up and back to 30th if you do something wrong. It was interesting there at the end and I don’t know that we’ve ever had so few cars at the end."
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 10th
What happened from your vantage point?
“The replay tells a lot more than I knew. Honestly I had no idea anybody was inside of me or had that run and I was watching my mirror, but I was also watching Denny (Hamlin) and I was, in hindsight, probably too focused on trying to help my teammate there. I probably just should’ve stayed in the top lane and kept going, but anyway I was just kind of easing my way down there and had no idea Joey (Logano) was that close to me and our cars got hooked together. I just feel bad all of those cars got wrecked. That’s not the way you want to start a season for sure."
Did Brad Keselowski slow down in front of you?
“I don’t know. I was just trying to watch both lines for which momentum they had and obviously if you got a teammate up there you were going to try to help him and I was trying to watch the momentum of their lines and try to get back with Denny (Hamlin) and get him out to the lead and also try to watch my right side so I could stay in-line. Like I said, I just didn’t know that 22 (Joey Logano) car was down there that close. I thought I had a good half a car length to three-quarters of a car length and by the time I looked away from my mirror and looked back the other way he must’ve got a run and got in there and didn’t see him."
How was the racing?
“It was okay. It started off single file on the top, which I didn’t think was going to make a real good race. Then Tony (Stewart) and Jimmie (Johnson) and some of the guys really committed to the bottom and worked really hard at it and made it work and made it a real good race. Really unfortunate that so many cars are torn up, especially when it appears that I probably triggered it. I feel bad about that and feel bad that all this stuff is torn up."
Results
| Pos | Car # | Driver | Make | Start | Laps | Led | Status |
| 1 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 1 | 75 | 27 | Running |
| 2 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 5 | 75 | 8 | Running |
| 3 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 4 | 75 | 6 | Running |
| 4 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 11 | 75 | 11 | Running |
| 5 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | 6 | 75 | 6 | Running |
| 6 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | 2 | 75 | 10 | Running |
| 7 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | 8 | 75 | 0 | Running |
| 8 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 17 | 75 | 0 | Running |
| 9 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr | Chevrolet | 14 | 65 | 7 | Accident |
| 10 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | Toyota | 16 | 35 | 0 | Accident |
| 11 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | 9 | 35 | 0 | Accident |
| 12 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | 13 | 35 | 0 | Accident |
| 13 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | 7 | 35 | 0 | Accident |
| 14 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | 10 | 35 | 0 | Accident |
| 15 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | Ford | 3 | 35 | 0 | Accident |
| 16 | 10 | Danica Patrick | Chevrolet | 12 | 35 | 0 | Accident |
| 17 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 18 | 28 | 0 | Accident |
| 18 | 32 | Terry Labonte | Ford | 15 | 1 | 0 | Vibration |