Hamlin wins at Richmond to set Chase Grid

Denny Hamlin has won the final outing of NASCAR’s regular season as the final 16 drivers who will contest the Chase over the final 10 races for the Sprint Cup has now been set.

In what was a head-to-head fight with Martin Truex Jr. (193 laps led), Hamlin led 189 laps; most importantly the final laps in a ‘Green-White-Chequered’ finish.

“It was great,” said Hamlin.

“I’ll tell you, our cars were really running well. Wheels and the whole group just gave me a great car. Really got it tuned in there the last half of the race. Just good restarts, finally everything just kind of worked well for us all day.”

In what he considers his home track, the Virginian native added his first race win at Richmond since 2010 to his victories at the Daytona 500 and road course race at Watkins Glen.

“Yeah, that’s what’s so special about it so you get to do it at home, and there’s just I see all the extra Denny Hamlin shirts and hats and everything, and fires me up every time I get here. I’ve also got to thank Sport Clips for their support this year, as well. Got all that covered, and man, this is a great car. Hopefully we can use it in the Chase.”

Kyle Larson finished second in a last lap duel for with Truex and Brad Keselowski.

As well as the race for victory, there was also those pushing for the final positions in the top-16. Four drivers Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon and Jamie McMurray taking those positions.

In a caution-heavy race, the red flag came out with 37 laps remaining after eight cars were involved in a wreck that eliminated Ryan Newman from the Chase. Also caught up in the wreck were Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, David Ragan, Matt DiBenedetto and Brian Scott, among others.

The Sprint Cup Series heads to Chicagoland Speedway next weekend for the start of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

VIDEO: Race recap

 

STANDINGS

POS	DRIVER	POINTS	BEHIND	STARTS	WINS	TOP 5	TOP 10	DNF
1	Kyle Busch	2012	Leader	26	4	11	16	5
2	Brad Keselowski	2012	Leader	26	4	12	17	0
3	Denny Hamlin	2009	-3	26	3	10	15	3
4	Kevin Harvick	2006	-6	26	2	13	21	2
5	Carl Edwards	2006	-6	26	2	7	15	5
6	Martin Truex Jr	2006	-6	26	2	5	12	1
7	Matt Kenseth	2006	-6	26	2	4	11	4
8	Jimmie Johnson	2006	-6	26	2	7	10	4
9	Joey Logano	2003	-9	26	1	10	18	3
10	Kyle Larson	2003	-9	26	1	7	10	2
11	Tony Stewart	2003	-9	18	1	5	7	4
12	Kurt Busch	2003	-9	26	1	6	17	2
13	Chris Buescher	2003	-9	26	1	2	2	4
14	Chase Elliott	2000	-12	26	0	7	13	1
15	Austin Dillon	2000	-12	26	0	4	10	1
16	Jamie McMurray	2000	-12	26	0	1	9	1
17	Ryan Newman	633	-1379	26	0	1	8	2
18	Kasey Kahne	633	-1379	26	0	2	8	1
19	Trevor Bayne	586	-1426	26	0	2	5	1
20	AJ Allmendinger	583	-1429	26	0	2	5	3
21	Ryan Blaney	575	-1437	26	0	2	7	2
22	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	574	-1438	26	0	3	5	3
23	Greg Biffle	495	-1517	26	0	1	3	6
24	Danica Patrick	493	-1519	26	0	0	0	3
25	Paul Menard	480	-1532	26	0	0	2	5
26	Dale Earnhardt Jr	461	-1551	18	0	5	6	4
27	Aric Almirola	455	-1557	26	0	0	0	5
28	Clint Bowyer	446	-1566	26	0	0	3	2
29	Casey Mears	430	-1582	26	0	0	0	0
30	Landon Cassill	373	-1639	26	0	0	0	1
31	David Ragan	354	-1658	26	0	0	0	5
32	Regan Smith	343	-1669	26	0	1	2	5
33	Michael McDowell	331	-1681	22	0	0	1	2
34	Brian Scott	312	-1700	26	0	0	0	5
35	Matt DiBenedetto	262	-1750	26	0	0	1	9
36	Cole Whitt	243	-1769	22	0	0	0	5
37	Michael Annett	233	-1779	25	0	0	0	3
38	Jeff Gordon	151	-1861	6	0	0	0	0
39	Josh Wise	146	-1866	22	0	0	0	5
40	Reed Sorenson	138	-1874	18	0	0	0	4
41	Jeffrey Earnhardt	95	-1917	14	0	0	0	2
42	Brian Vickers	86	-1926	5	0	0	1	1
43	Bobby Labonte	51	-1961	3	0	0	0	0
44	David Gilliland	46	-1966	2	0	0	0	0
45	Michael Waltrip	42	-1970	2	0	0	0	0
46	Boris Said	17	-1995	1	0	0	0	0
47	Patrick Carpentier	11	-2001	2	0	0	0	0
48	Eddie MacDonald	5	-2007	1	0	0	0	0
49	Alex Kennedy	5	-2007	1	0	0	0	1
50	Robert Richardson	3	-2009	1	0	0	0	1
51	Ty Dillon	0	-2012	8	0	0	0	0
52	Dylan Lupton	0	-2012	2	0	0	0	0
53	Alex Bowman	0	-2012	2	0	0	0	0
54	Jeb Burton	0	-2012	2	0	0	0	0
55	Joey Gase	0	-2012	3	0	0	0	0
56	Ryan Ellis	0	-2012	3	0	0	0	0
57	Justin Allgaier	0	-2012	1	0	0	0	1
58	Cody Ware	0	-2012	0	0	0	0	0