With a pair of third-place finishes to begin the season, Kyle Busch has climbed to the top of this week’s Motor Racing Network Power Rankings as he opens defense of his Sprint Cup Series championship. Martin Truex Junior, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick hold positions two through five. (For a complete list, visit http://bit.ly/1QS0wNV)
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Denny Hamlin Extends Joe Gibbs Racing Sprint Unlimited Streak
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SPRINT UNLIMITED: Denny Hamlin extended Joe Gibbs Racing’s recent run of success in the Sprint Unlimited on Saturday night by delivering the organization’s third straight victory in the non-points special event and its fourth in five years. Hamlin, who started fifteenth in the twenty-five-car field, pulled away on an overtime restart to notch his second Unlimited win in three years and third overall. A late caution for a five-car accident along the backstretch sent the race four laps past its scheduled distance. Hamlin’s Number-11 Toyota led a race-high thirty-nine laps including the final sixteen trips around Daytona International Speedway’s two-point-five-mile oval.
Defending Daytona 500 winner Joey Logano finished second with Paul Menard, Kyle Larson and Casey Mears completing the top five. Pole sitter Jimmie Johnson was involved in an accident early in the second half of the race and finished twenty-second … Matt Kenseth, one of Hamlin’s teammates at J-G-R, placed twelfth in his bid for back-to-back wins in the season-opening event … Reigning Sprint Cup Series champion Kyle Busch started ninth and finished seventeenth, sidelined by a wreck less than ten laps from the finish … Brian Vickers, subbing for the injured Tony Stewart, placed twenty-fourth.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Top 10 Finishers
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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Top 10 Finishers in the Quicken Loans 500
DRIVER STARTING POSITION LAPS LED
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Kevin Harvick
- Joey Logano
- Kyle Busch
- Jimmie Johnson
- Jeff Gordon
- Kurt Busch
- Denny Hamlin
- Brad Keselowski
- Aric Almirola
Sunday’s victory for Dale Earnhardt Junior is his third of the season and the twenty-sixth of his career – three of which have come at Phoenix International Raceway. The first two were back-to-back in 2003 and 2004 … Among active drivers, “Junior” is now third on the track’s win list behind Kevin Harvick (seven) and Jimmie Johnson (four).
Chevrolet has won five straight Sprint Cup Series races at P-I-R and six of the last seven … Johnson started from the pole, led the first forty-four laps and finished fifth in Sunday’s race.
Thus far, all nine post-season races this year have been won by drivers who were on the original sixteen-man Chase Grid.
My A-Fib Risk-Dot-Com 400 by Janssen
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Denny Hamlin passed up fresh tires in favor of track position and it paid big dividends Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway as the Joe Gibbs Racing driver won the opening event of the 2015 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
While most of the front-runners pitted for tires on the day’s final caution, Hamlin, along with race leader Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon, rolled the dice and remained on the track.
On the restart, Hamlin quickly disposed of Busch and Gordon, and led the final five laps to post his second victory of the season and qualify for the next round of the Chase that begins October 10th in Charlotte. Hamlin’s margin of victory was one second over runner-up Carl Edwards as Joe Gibbs Racing finished one-two. Busch took third place at the checkered flag while Gordon faded to fourteenth. Ryan Newman placed fourth and Matt Kenseth completed the top five.
Defending Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick finished forty-second in the forty-three-car field. Contact from Jimmie Johnson during a restart midway through the race damaged the left side of Harvick’s car which led to a cut tire, sending him into the wall and to the garage for repairs. He was running at the finish of Sunday’s race but completed only 209 of the 267 laps.
Hamlin’s win was the ninth victory in the last twelve races for J-G-R. It’s his twenty-sixth career Cup Series win, tying Hamlin with Hall of Fame driver Fred Lorenzen for twenty-seventh place on NASCAR’s all-time list. Kenseth’s fifth-place finish lifted him into first place in the Chase standings, two points ahead of Hamlin.
Hamlin Suffers Torn ACL, Still Plans To Continue Racing
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Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin tore the anterior cruciate ligament … A-C-L … in his right knee while playing basketball Tuesday night. The organization released a statement Wednesday saying that Hamlin is expected to race in the remaining eleven events this season, including Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway. Hamlin has received medical clearance necessary to continue racing activities and will undergo surgery to repair the torn A-C-L after the season ends in November.
Hamlin has qualified for this year’s post-season Chase by virtue of his win at Martinsville Speedway in late March. He’s currently eighth in the regular-season point standings … With his victory in the All-Star Race in May, Hamlin touched off a mid-season hot streak that’s seen Joe Gibbs Racing win nine of the last fifteen races. During that stretch, Kyle Busch has four victories with Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth each winning twice.
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