NASCAR
Denny Hamlin And Kyle Larson Start On Front Row As NASCAR Takes On Dover
DOVER, DE (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin is on the pole position and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson is on the outside of the front row as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs continue today at Dover International Speedway.
Hamlin’s fast lap of 21.559-seconds (166.984 mph) was a mere 0.003-seconds faster than Larson’s fast lap of 21.562 (166.960 mph) around the “Monster Mile”.
Hamlin’s pole position is his 32nd career pole in 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races. The pole is Hamlin’s 2nd in 2019 and fourth pole in 28-races at Dover.
“We definitely had a great qualifying effort there,” said Hamlin. “The track temp stayed pretty consistent through but certainly didn’t thing we were going run an 21.50 by any means of the imagination. Proud to have that kind of effort from our team.”
Larson’s second starting position is his 13th top-10 start of 2019 and ninth in 12-races at Dover. Larson took to Twitter afterwards to explain how Hamlin was able to edge the No. 42 Clover Chevrolet from the top starting spot.
Even his mom knows that cloud cover and going out early helped him get that pole…. 😂 but I’d feel better if anyone else would have beat me. https://t.co/bxqalPCRHl
— Kyle Larson (@KyleLarsonRacin) October 5, 2019
Hamlin’s teammate Martin Truex Jr will start third after a fast lap of 21.660-seconds (166.205 mph). This is Truex’ 17th top-10 start at Dover and 14th in 30-races this season.
Stewart Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick will start fourth and last week’s winner at Charlotte, Hendrick Motorsports Chase Elliott, rounds out the top-5.
Hamlin knows being out front can pay huge dividends as the “Monster Mile” is one of the most unforgiving tracks on the circuit.
“We can take every advantage we can at this race track,” said Hamlin. “It’s been pretty tough on me. Certainly feel like the advantage of having that number one pit stall and a very fast car bode pretty well for us.”
Hamlin currently sits third in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points standings, trailing his teammates Kyle Busch and Truex by 16 and 11-points respectively.
The green flag for the Drydene 400 drops at 2:30 p.m. ET with Television coverage starting at 2:00 p.m. ET on NBCSN and on radio at SiriusXM NASCAR radio.
FONTANA, CA (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – The pairing of Kyle Busch and Richard Childress Racing is paying dividends as two races into their partnership, they were celebrating victory at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. Busch beat Hendrick Motorsports Chase Elliott by ?.?-seconds to pick up his ??-career Cup Series victory and the ?? of his NASCAR career.
“I felt like there was going to be a little bit of a learning experience, a little bit of a growth pattern, but also on the flipside of that, I always just kind of looked back and watched some of their results and success that they had last year with Austin,” explained Busch. “He ran second here last year, and Reddick was super, super fast. They were fast at the Clash before they broke, the 8 car was.”
Busch said the transition to a new team has been good.
“It’s just been really, really cool, and it’s been a great piece of — we’re making history, right, but a great piece of opportunity to go out there and continue to win races at a new team with RCR, so I can’t say enough about Austin giving me a call, first and foremost, but then Richard and Judy giving me this opportunity to go out here and race for wins.”
Elliott was happy for his manufacturer teammate and former Champ and to get a finish after getting crashed out of the Daytona 500.
“Congratulations to Kyle,” said Elliott. “For him to leave and then to go get the job done like that is pretty cool. He’s always been really good to me, so happy for them. Obviously I think we still have some work to do, but it was really nice to just see a lot of that hard work pay off and have the car driving like we were wanting it to do. So that’s always a good thing. Appreciate everybody on our NAPA team, Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet for just sticking with it and sticking with each other. Looking forward to getting to Vegas and hopefully competing for some more wins.”
Ross Chastain, who led a race high 92-laps, finished third in the No. 1 Kubota Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing.
“Our balance was building loose most of the day, so I thought we did everything right,” said Chatain. “We kept up with it. It would just feel pretty loose late in the runs, and at times it was enough, and at times they got way better.”
The NASCAR Cup Series moves on to Las Vegas for the Pennzoil 400 March 5th.
DAYTONA, FL (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Ricky Stenhouse Jr was leading NASCAR Cup Series Champion Joey Logano when a spinning Kyle Larson brought out the final caution of the day, giving Stenhouse the Daytona 500 win in double-overtime.
Stenhouse and Logano were battling for the lead on Lap 212 when contact from Aric Almirola’s Ford started Travis Pastrana’s Toyota spinning in Turn 2. Pastrana’s Camry clipped Larson Chevrolet and set it rocketing into the outside wall. NASCAR officials reviewed the timing and scoring loops to verify Stenhouse was the winner.
“The 22 had a huge run,” explained Stenhouse. “Got to my outside. Kyle had a huge run and he kind of shipped the middle, and then I looked in my mirror and here comes Christopher and gave me a big shot down the short chute there into 1 caution and got out front enough for when the caution came out.
So everything played out perfectly for us at the end of that.”
“Second is the worst, man,” lamented Logano. “You’re so close. Leading the white flag lap there, I was up front. Kyle gave me a good push and, yeah, you’re watching in the mirror and you’re three wide across there. I felt like the three wide was going a hurt a lane; looked like Kyle was getting pushed ahead, and then Ricky started getting pushed ahead.”
“If you would have told me pre-race I was going to run third, I would have jumped up and down and been smiling ear to ear, which I am very happy and very, very thankful that I could get this Rheem and DeWalt Camry a good solid finish,” said Bell. “But man, just so close to a crown jewel. I feel like if it would have stayed green I would have been on offense, and obviously who knows. But very proud and thankful to be here and Joe Gibbs Racing, and happy for Ricky. That’s really cool. Very, very happy for Ricky.”
The next NASCAR Cup Series race is Sunday, February 26 at Auto Club Raceway in Fontana, California.
DAYTONA, FL (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Austin Hill won his second-straight NASCAR Xfinity Series season-opening race on Saturday, narrowly beating John Hunter Nemechek and Justin Allgaier after NASCAR officials reviewed the tape following Sam Mayer’s caution.
“As soon as the caution lights came on, I thought I had it, but it was so close,” said Hill. “To get back-to-back here at Daytona, it’s really special. That’s three wins for me now, two in the Xfinity, one in the truck here. We came from the back two different times. I hope everyone enjoyed it. It was such a blast. I had so much fun.”
“I’ve been short my whole life, so I guess it’s just fitting,” joked Allgaier. “But really proud of everybody at JR Motorsports. Our Chevy Camaros tonight were absolutely blazing fast. Obviously, I’m glad Sam is OK. He had a heck of a run there at the end.”
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