By Roy J. Akers — www.skyviewsports.net
Kansas is like a lot of tracks for JGR and, in particular, Denny Hamlin. Hamlin has won three times at Kansas, the most ever at a track that has only been on the schedule for roughly a decade. Hamlin and his teammates led the most laps at the Hollywood Casino 400, and it was his race to lose on the final restart when Bubba Wallace was trading paint and running people up the racetrack. Hamlin did the same to Wallace and Chase Elliott used his momentum to win by a car length to capture the Hollywood Casino 400. Here is how we got to the checkered flag.
Race Highlights Each Stage
Stage 1
Denny Hamlin leads 57 of 70 laps to dominate the stage. His teammate Chase Briscoe, leads 19 and Christopher Bell leads three.
Stage 2
Denny Hamlin has won four times at Kansas and is the all-time winner at KMS. He sweeps both stages and has led 93 laps of 165. JGR is dominating at the track leading over 150 laps with Christopher Bell also challenging the #11.
Final Stage
During the final stage, JGR Racing cars were leading most of the Stage and Hamlin dominated most of the early laps. There were five cautions and the Zane Smith wreck where John Hunter Nemechek pushed him into the wall and Smith rode at least a half mile on his side before the machine tumbled. Smith was alright.
Checkered Flag
Chase Elliott only led 24 laps on Sunday at the Hollywood 400. He needed a little help as the Toyota’s were in the Top 5 spots in the race, and when Denny Hamlin mixed it up with the leaders and he pushed Bubba Wallace up the track, Elliott gave Hamlin a door shot and took off. Elliott wins his second of the year and first since winning in Atlanta back in June.
“Everything worked out perfect for me. Had a great push through (turns) one and two. That kind of all started with the No. 6 (Brad Keselowski). I had a big run off of two. The seas kind of parted and I just was able to keep my momentum up. That was really it. Obviously we still had pretty good tires compared to those guys, but what a crazy finish. Hope you all enjoyed that. I certainly did. Really proud of this No. 9 Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet team. Had a really solid weekend, win or no win. Really nice to qualify really well. We’ll certainly enjoy this, man. This is pretty cool. Just never take this stuff for granted because it’s hard to come by. Learned that the hard way. Always enjoy it. Always appreciate it.
They Said It
ZANE SMITH, No. 38 Speedy Cash Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT DID YOU JUST EXPERIENCE? “It was a wild ride, no doubt. Before I knew it, I had a decent restart going and I just get wrecked by the 42. He just drives through me and then I was sliding on the wall. I was just mad at that point from how our day was going and this just pissed me off even more because that’s what really hurt was just flipping down the track. It was violent, no doubt, but we had such a fast Speedy Cash Ford today. It’s just a bummer. Right before that caution came out we were gonna have a top 10 day, racing up inside the top 10 a majority of the day and it’s a shame that it has to come to an end out there. I want to give a shout out back to everyone at FRM for bringing another really good car, especially at a mile-and-a-half. Hopefully, five more. Hopefully we bring some more good ones.”
Factoid that May Interest Only Me
JGR Racing playoff drivers finished 2-3-4 and only an overzealous move by Hamlin opened the door for Elliott.
Fantasy
The original lineup had Joey Logano in it but when Logano qualified poorly and Chase Briscoe won the pole, that was the first switch. Switch two occurred when Chris Buescher also qualified in the teens and Hamlin was Q2. Hamlin starts on the bench and will most likely end up in the lineup. My goal is for him to stay on the bench and he start in the final two races at Martinsville and Phoenix.
Tale of the Tape
Race Six of Ten at Charlotte
