NASCAR
Denny Hamlin Wins NASCAR Cup Race At Kansas; Eight Drivers Advance To 3rd Round Of Playoffs

TOPEKA, KANSAS (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin is advancing to the third round of NASCAR’s Playoffs after winning Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. Hamlin held off a hard-charging Chase Elliott in the 2nd NASCAR overtime to win by .128-seconds. The win was Hamlin’s fifth of the year and 36th of his career.
“Happy for the whole FedEx team,” said Hamlin. “That car was awesome. To dominate the second half of that race. I thought the strength of us really was being able to move around the racetrack, run close to the same lap time no matter what lane we were in. That kind of allowed me to get through traffic the way we did, then obviously hold those guys off at the end.”
Elliott finished second and started the final restart in third place knowing his best chance to advance to the next round of the playoffs was to get past Hamlin and win.
“I was trying to make a run a Denny but we just never got out momentum up enough for me to do anything about it,” said Elliott. “The good news was the bottom lane rolled enough on that last restart so we could get back to second. I appreciate the effort. Just excited we get to fight another race.”
Elliott didn’t win but he did advance to the third round on points edging Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski for the eighth and final transfer spot.
“I couldn’t get nothing to go for me on the restart on the inside line,” said Keselowski. “I needed to get up (into the outside lane) and I couldn’t get up and somebody went 3-wide and I got sandwiched in the middle of (turn) four. It was just all bad and I didn’t do a good enough job.”
Kyle Busch started restarted NASCAR overtime in third place and finished in third place, which enabled Busch to move into the third round of the playoffs.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kurt Busch finished fourth in the No. 1 Advent Health Chevrolet.
We fought our way to a solid 4th place finish, which seems appropriate for the @AdventHealth #BreastCancerAwareness #Camaro. We met with so many survivors this week who fight real fights every single day, and refuse to ever give up. Their courage is inspiring.
— Kurt Busch (@KurtBusch) October 21, 2019
Hendrick Motorsports William Byron rounded out the top 5. Byron needed to win to advance to the next round of the playoffs and was eliminated despite the strong finish.
JGR’s Martin Truex Jr, and Erik Jones finished sixth and seventh respectively. Stewart Haas Racing’s Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick finished eighth and ninth with Hendrick Motorsports Jimmie Johnson rounding out the top 10.
The five other drivers advancing to the third round of the NASCAR Playoffs include Truex, Joey Logano, Harvick, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney.
The next Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race is October 27th at Martinsville Speedway.
NASCAR
Kyle Busch takes NASCAR Cup Series win in California

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.
NASCAR
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wins Daytona 500 in two overtimes

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.
NASCAR
Austin Hill wins his second straight NASCAR Xfinity Series season opener at Daytona

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.”