Alright let’s get through this so we can talk about the beef.
The Winner
Denny Hamlin.
The Race
Kind of a sloppy one, but it may have just felt that way because there weren’t many actual wrecks. Lot of little issues—small damage, tire damage, pit foibles, etc.
Results
Top ten, other playoff drivers:
Chase Elliott was 2nd.
Kyle Busch survived a few scrapes, finishing 3rd.
Martin Truex Jr. was booed heavily in intro’s, I guess? Finished 4th.
Ryan Blaney was 5th.
Tyler Reddick was 6th.
Brad Keselowski was 7th.
Kurt Busch was 8th.
Kevin Harvick was 9th.
Kyle Larson won the first stage, got a little wonky in the second with some pit strategy issues, and finished 10th.
Joey Logano had some lugnut trouble early but finished 11th.
William Byron had a great car and a terrible string of luck—flat tire, pit mishap, maybe something else I’m forgetting? 18th.
Alex Bowman had a flat tire derail the end of his day. 22nd.
Christopher Bell made some contact with Kurt Busch early, which started a string of pitting and a penalty that let him out of the picture. 24th.
Standings
With Talladega (yay!) and the Roval (ooh!) left in the Round of 12 (the Round of 8 sucks, though—Kansas and Texas), here’s where things stack up:
1. Hamlin: Locked into Round of 8 via win
2. Larson: 57 points ahead of first driver out
3. Kyle Busch: 35 points ahead of first driver out
4. Truex: 31 points ahead of first driver out
5. Blaney: 24 points ahead of first driver out
6. Elliott: 22 points ahead of first driver out
7. Logano: 6 points ahead of first driver out
8. Keselowski: Last driver in, 4 points ahead of first driver out
9. Byron: First driver out, 4 points behind last driver in
10. Harvick: 7 points behind last driver in
11. Bowman: 13 points behind last driver in
12. Bell: 25 points behind last driver in
Thoughts, Implications, Up Next
It doesn’t really shake things up too much, especially with a wildcard coming up in the form of Talladega. Bell’s in rough shape, and you’d rather be one of the top six than one of the bottom six given where everyone stacks up, but for all these guys, it seems like two top tens with good stage racing would be enough (and Bell, you might remember, won on a road course earlier this year).
Scary Stuff
Joey Gase had a bad wreck and had to go to the hospital, but it sounds like he’s ok:
Chippy Stuff
Cody Ware made a choice.
The fellas were chirping.
THE BEEF
Ok, so you remember how Elliott and Harvick don’t like each other anymore? Get a load of this ass!
Yeah, I think I’m Team Elliott. I don’t know. I haven’t followed NASCAR that closely for that long, but I’ve just never seen Harvick take accountability for anything in the world, so it’s hard to take him at his word when he cries foul. Everything’s someone else’s fault with this guy, and Elliott hasn’t exactly been going around picking fights.
