Hamlin wins at Richmond to set Chase Grid

Hamlin celebrates in his own backyard

Hamlin celebrates in his own backyard

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

 

 

RESULTS: Federated Auto Parts 400 – Richmond International Raceway

POS. CAR # DRIVER MAKE START LAPS LAPS LED STATUS POINTS BONUS POINTS
1 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 1 407 189 Running 44 4
2 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 2 407 15 Running 40 1
3 78 Martin Truex Jr Toyota 6 407 193 Running 40 2
4 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 17 407 0 Running 37 0
5 4 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 19 407 0 Running 36 0
6 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 7 407 0 Running 35 0
7 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 4 407 0 Running 34 0
8 41 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 5 407 3 Running 34 1
9 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 9 407 0 Running 32 0
10 22 Joey Logano Ford 12 407 0 Running 31 0
11 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 10 407 0 Running 30 0
12 95 Michael McDowell Chevrolet 27 407 0 Running 29 0
13 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 8 407 0 Running 28 0
14 6 Trevor Bayne Ford 18 407 0 Running 27 0
15 10 Danica Patrick Chevrolet 29 407 0 Running 26 0
16 88 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 11 407 0 Running 25 0
17 43 Aric Almirola Ford 23 407 0 Running 24 0
18 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Ford 22 407 0 Running 23 0
19 24 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 34 407 0 Running 22 0
20 47 AJ Allmendinger Chevrolet 16 407 0 Running 21 0
21 13 Casey Mears Chevrolet 26 407 0 Running 20 0
22 15 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 33 407 0 Running 19 0
23 16 Greg Biffle Ford 28 407 0 Running 18 0
24 34 Chris Buescher Ford 31 407 0 Running 17 0
25 83 Dylan Lupton Toyota 39 406 0 Running 0 0
26 55 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 38 404 0 Running 15 0
27 32 Jeffrey Earnhardt Ford 40 403 2 Running 15 1
28 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 15 402 0 Running 13 0
29 7 Regan Smith Chevrolet 24 397 2 Accident 13 1
30 30 Josh Wise Chevrolet 36 396 0 Running 11 0
31 46 Michael Annett Chevrolet 37 390 0 Running 10 0
32 19 Carl Edwards Toyota 13 366 0 Suspension 9 0
33 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 14 363 0 Accident 8 0
34 23 David Ragan Toyota 21 362 0 Accident 7 0
35 44 Brian Scott Ford 35 362 0 Accident 6 0
36 38 Landon Cassill Ford 32 358 0 Running 5 0
37 93 Matt DiBenedetto Toyota 25 352 0 Accident 4 0
38 20 Matt Kenseth Toyota 3 335 3 Accident 4 1
39 21 Ryan Blaney Ford 20 279 0 Running 2 0
40 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 30 264 0 Accident 1 0

 

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

 

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