A bold and powerful move by Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin allowed him to take the lead from Brad Keselowski with two laps to go in Saturday night’s Sprint Unlimited at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, and to start the 2014 season the same way he ended 2013, winning.
Saturday night’s shootout earned by winning a pole in the previous NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season or being a champion of the Sprint Unlimited, is setting the tone on what we can expect the racing to be like leading into the Gatorade Duels this upcoming Thursday – and then next Sunday’s Daytona 500 live on FOX.
This was Hamlin’s second victory in the Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway. He also won the 2006 edition as a rookie in his first appearance.
“The best car won, that’s for sure,” said a jubilant Hamlin. “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.”
2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski finished second, followed by Kyle Busch, who recovered after a nearly disastrous spin. Joey Logano was fourth with Kevin Harvick, who nearly found himself a lap down after being involved in the “big one” rebounded for fifth in his first official race for Stewart Haas Racing.
Jamie McMurray claimed sixth ahead of Marcos Ambrose, Ryan Newman in his RCR debut, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth comprised the top-10.
Earnhardt Jr., a fan favorite to win the event was eliminated following contact from Marcos Ambrose on Lap 65. Jr. voiced his displeasure with the Australian with a nudge and a slam with his No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet. “I was running along there, and I think the No. 9 (Marcos Ambrose) was trying to go to the outside, and I didn’t know that and we got turned into the wall,” said Jr.. “I don’t know if there was enough room out there or not. We had a good car. Just having some fun. A lot of wrecked cars. We had a pretty good car. This was our backup, so we’ll just have to see how it goes.”
Much of the field was eliminated on lap 35, when Joey Logano and Matt Kenseth made contact, which set up a chain-reaction incident that eliminated the cars of Danica Patrick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart.
Stewart in his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series “race” since being injured in a Sprint Car crash on August 5 climbed from his No. 14 Mobile 1 / Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet without incident. He is expected to qualify his Daytona 500 car on Sunday as scheduled. Stewart spoke to the media after the incident and said he was doing “fine.”
Scored behind Kenseth were: Tony Stewart (11th), Jeff Gordon (12th), Carl Edwards (13th), Kurt Busch (14th), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (15th), Danica Patrick (16th), Jimmie Johnson (17th) and Terry Labonte (18th).
Johnson, the defending NSCS champion exited the field on Lap 28, which came at the end of the race’s first segment. “The back of the car just got light coming up off of turn four. I was trying to set up a pass on the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin). I had a good run going. As I looked to the outside of him up off of four; I looked to the outside off of four, the back of the car just started sliding out from under me. I had a long, lazy slide to the inside wall there on the front stretch.
“Hate to have it end that way, but learned a lot in the Sprint Unlimited Race. It’s going to be an exciting Daytona 500 for sure. (What I learned) just depends on who is leading. The No. 1 car (Jamie McMurray) likes to run around the top, and he paced the race early and was controlling the race on top. I got the bottom working, and was able to tow some car cars up to the front – Carl Edwards and myself. It’s really kind of a numbers game; where everybody decides to run – that is going to be the fastest line.”
With his win Saturday night, Hamlin becomes the ninth driver to win multiple wins in the Sprint Unlimited.
Next up in Speedweeks 2014 is qualifying for the Daytona 500, which will set the front-row, plus arrange the starting lineups for Thursday’s Gatorade Duels, which will be held under the lights for the first time in that event’s history.
ARCA: Grant Enfinger scored his third career victory in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards Saturday afternoon in the Lucas Oil 200 presented by MAVTV American Real. Enfinger, the Alabama native held off reining ARCA champion Frank Kimmel to score the biggest win of his racing career.
Martinsville Speedway president Clay Campbell posted a career-best third, while Cunningham Motorsports teammates Tyler Reddick and Tom Hessert III rounded out the top-five. Pole sitter Dylan Kwasniewski finished 14th after being shuffled out of the pack late in the event.
A post-race scuffle involving the teams of Roulo Bros. Racing and Hendrick Motorsports ensued in the garage area following the checkered flag. Despite crude language and shoving, no injuries were reported. Local police and ARCA Racing Series officials quickly defused the situation after being notified nearly three minutes after the incident started.
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Source: Timing and Scoring provided by NASCARMedia/NASCAR Statistics
