Tony Stewart (14), Jeff Gordon (24), Kurt Busch (41) and Matt Kenseth (20) tangled six laps into the second segment of Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway. Nine cars were caught up in this incident. Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
Denny Hamlin took the checkered flag in the Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night, turning in a dominating performance to capture his second win in NASCAR’s pre-season non-point event just one week before the 56th-running the season-opening Daytona 500.
Hamlin won all three segments of the event, leading 27 of 75 laps in a race that saw half the field taken out in crashes, a pace car fire, and even another improbable save by Kyle Busch on a full-moon night in Daytona.
Hamlin powered from the back of the pack over the final five laps, taking the lead for the final time with a bold three-wide pass with two laps to go and holding off Brad Keselowski by three car-length for the victory. Kyle Busch was third, followed by Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick.
Jamie McMurray, Marcos Ambrose and Ryan Newman rounded out the remaining finishers as only eight cars finished the event out of a field of 18.
With the win, Hamlin begins his 2014 Sprint Cup season in the same fashion he ended his 2013 season, with a celebration in Victory Lane, only this time instead of capping off a dismal year with a bittersweet win, he’s looking to take the first step toward getting back into contention for the Sprint Cup title.
“The best car won, that’s for sure,” said Hamlin. “It’s a great win. You love starting Speedweeks like this. In 2006, it kind of spring-boarded my career into a great year. There’s no negatives that come out of a day like today.”
Hamlin had been a strong contender to compete for the championship in 2013 before suffering a fractured vertebra in a last-lap crash in the fifth race of the season at Fontana that put him out of action for five races and all but ended his chance of making the field for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
But Hamlin soldiered on, made his way back into the race car, and ended the season winning the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
As if Saturday’s night’s victory didn’t answer any doubts that he’s fully recovered, Hamlin brought it up himself on his in-car radio on his cool-down lap: “Any questions?”
“You’re always excited about starting the season, but for me it was more about really starting the season strong, to just totally forget about 2013,” said Hamlin. “Obviously this is huge motivation and confidence that we can do a lot of great things when all the pieces fall right for us.”
Hamlin started on the pole for the race after a fan vote lined up the field by practice speeds, followed by Jamie McMurray, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Kyle Busch and Keselowski.
On the final lap of the first 30-lap segment, the first favorite was out of the race as defending Sprint Cup champion and 2013 Daytona 500 winner Jimmie Johnson spun coming out of turn four and pounded the inside wall just before the entrance to pit road. Johnson was unhurt in the crash, but was done for the night.
Hamlin would go on to win the first segment, leading nine laps, and started out front for the second, 25-lap segment followed by Harvick, Logano, Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards.
The biggest wreck of the night started just five laps into the second segment when Matt Kenseth came down across the nose of Logano’s Ford Fusion, triggering a eight-car pileup that collected Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, Ricky Stenhouse, Danica Patrick and Tony Stewart, who was making his first start since missing the last six months with a broken leg.
Hamlin would lead all 25 laps of the segment to win out over Keselowski, Kyle Busch, McMurray and Ambrose to set up the final 20-lap shootout.
A fan vote determined the starting lineup for the final segment after a mandatory two-tire stop, with Hamlin winning the race off pit road followed by McMurray, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Logano.
Under green, Hamlin quickly got shuffled back as Earnhardt, Jr. and Keselowski traded the lead. Five laps into the segment, Kyle Busch got turned by Keselowski but drove a spectacular save to rejoin the field with minimal damage to his Toyota Camry.
Five laps later, another fan favorite was out as Earnhardt tangled with Ambrose sending them both into the wall, ending Junior’s night while Ambrose was able to continue.
The field lined up for a restart with Logano up front, but the full-moon fever wasn’t quite over yet as the Chevrolet SS pace car pulled off the track with the back end on fire, forcing pace car driver Brett Bodine to stop the car and bail out.
After the cleanup, Logano brought the field to the green flag with five laps to go trailed by Keselowski, McMurray, Ryan Newman and Hamlin.
Hamlin dropped to the tail of the field on the restart but quickly powered back into third place with just three laps to go before setting up his final move with two laps to go.
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Going down the backstretch, Hamlin dropped all the way to the yellow line under teammate Kyle Busch, going three wide with Keselowski on the high side before finally clearing Busch and coming back up the track in front of Keselowski and moving out to the three car lead that he held for the final lap.
Keselowski’s runner-up finish was his second top-five in just two starts in this event.
“It was definitely a race of attrition. We survived somewhat till the end,” said Keselowski. “Obviously came up one spot short, which in a race like this is all that matters.”
Kyle Busch’s save in the finals laps almost earned him his second Sprint Unlimited victory after his equally impressive two-spin save performance during his win in 2012.
“I was just lucky that I didn’t get hit by anybody else,” said Busch. “As long as nobody ever really messes you up again, you can sort of drive through things, I guess. I’ve done it now three times, I guess, so I’ve got experience at it where most others probably don’t.
“All in all it turned out. I was lucky enough to get through it, make it on, carry on through the race, finish third. Just shy of what I ended up last time I did that.”
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Daytona International Speedway – Daytona Beach, FL
Sprint Unlimited – February 15, 2014
1. (1) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 75, $201139.
2. (5) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 75, $97380.
3. (4) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 75, $57380.
4. (11) Joey Logano, Ford, 75, $48380.
5. (6) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 75, $47355.
6. (2) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 75, $45955.
7. (8) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 75, $44605.
8. (17) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 75, $42580.
9. (14) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, Accident, 65, $40580.
10. (16) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, Accident, 35, $39080.
11. (9) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, Accident, 35, $38580.
12. (13) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, Accident, 35, $38080.
13. (7) Carl Edwards, Ford, Accident, 35, $37580.
14. (10) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, Accident, 35, $36080.
15. (3) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, Accident, 35, $35580.
16. (12) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, Accident, 35, $35080.
17. (18) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, Accident, 28, $32580.
18. (15) Terry Labonte, Ford, Vibration, 1, $30580.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 143.16 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 18 Mins, 35 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.197 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 5 for 13 laps.
Lead Changes: 16 among 7 drivers.
Lap Leaders: D. Hamlin 1; J. McMurray 2-10; Kyle Busch 11-16; K. Harvick 17-21; D. Hamlin 22; K. Harvick 23; D. Hamlin 24-30; B. Keselowski 31-34; D. Hamlin 35-41; B. Keselowski 42-43; J. Logano 44-46; D. Hamlin 47-55; J. McMurray 56; D. Earnhardt Jr. 57-63; J. Logano 64-71; B. Keselowski 72-73; D. Hamlin 74-75.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): D. Hamlin 6 times for 27 laps; J. Logano 2 times for 11 laps; J. McMurray 2 times for 10 laps; B. Keselowski 3 times for 8 laps; D. Earnhardt Jr. 1 time for 7 laps; K. Harvick 2 times for 6 laps; Kyle Busch 1 time for 6 laps.
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