Caution came out and with a mere 7 laps to go, leader Denny Hamlin gave up the lead to pit for tires. Only Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch came with him while the rest of the leaders stayed on the track. That put Jeff Gordon out in front at the track where he's scored 7 wins in his career.
It looked like it was all over for Hamlin who restarted in 9th with 4 laps to go. But hang on to your hats, here's where it gets crazy. As Hamlin fought his way thru the pack on fresh tires another caution flag came out when Kyle Busch and Paul Menard wrecked setting up an overtime "Green/White/Checkers" finish. Gordon was still in the lead and Matt Kenseth lined up behind him in third. But, behind them were Hamlin and Joey Logano.
On the restart Kenseth gave Gordon the old "bump and run" in turn 1 forcing Gordon wide and ducking underneath him to take the lead. Gordon returned Kenseth the favor in the next turn, but left too much room on the inside and opened the door for Hamlin who came charging thru with Logano in tow.
After looking like they had given away the race on a huge tactical error, JGR finished 1, 2!
God, I love this sport!
No comments:
Post a Comment