Austin Dillon (3) races Denny Hamlin (11) during Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. The two would end the day tied for the final transfer spot for the next round of the Chase, with the tiebreaker going to Hamlin on wins. Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images
Facing an overtime restart with two laps left in the Hellman’s 500 on Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, crew chief Slugger Labbe reminded driver Austin Dillon of the relevant numbers.
Dillon had to finish no more than five positions behind Denny Hamlin to secure a spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup’s Round of 8—as long as Hamlin didn’t win the race.
Dillon had done everything right to that point. He had earned a bonus point by staying out for an extra circuit and leading lap 117 under the second caution of the afternoon. He gained three spots after a restart on lap 186 and was 11th when the green flag waved for the final time on lap 191.
On the final two laps, he worked his way forward to ninth before the checkered flag ended the race. Only one problem. Hamlin beat Kurt Busch to the stripe by .006 seconds—approximately two feet—to finish third.
The two drivers finished the Round of 12 tied for eighth with 3,078 points, but Hamlin won a tiebreaker for the final Chase spot because his third-place finish on Sunday was better than Dillon’s best Round-of-12 finish of sixth last week at Kansas.
“Yeah, it’s really close,” a disappointed Dillon said. “I guess it wasn’t our day to do it. It wasn’t planned for us to do that. We tried. We didn’t really have enough speed all day to do much. I’m proud of my guys, and all my teammates helped me as much as they could. We just couldn’t get another spot.
“We got a couple there at the end on the last little straight, but the No. 43 (Aric Almirola) was the car we needed (to beat for eighth place), and it didn’t work out. Another top 10 at a speedway—it’s pretty nice to get that, but obviously not what we wanted. The No. 22 (Joey Logano) won and the No. 11 (Hamlin) finished third, so it’s not what we needed, but we will take it and move on from here.”
“Secret” Allies Help Hamlin Hold Chase Berth
With his three Joe Gibbs Racing teammates running at the back of the field throughout Sunday’s race to protect Round of 8 spots, Denny Hamlin had no obvious friends at the front of the field to help him join his teammates in the next round of the Chase.
But Hamlin revealed after finishing third behind Joey Logano and Brian Scott that he had received help from unexpected quarters in doing just enough to beat Austin Dillon for the final berth on a tiebreaker.
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“I knew that strategy was going to be in play,” Hamlin said of the conservative game plan in place for Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch. “I mean, obviously, when you have three guys that realistically just don’t need to wreck to get in, and you have one that needs to go out there and almost win to get in, you can’t sacrifice the three guaranteed spots that you got to try to get one more in. That would just be bad gamesmanship. Coach (team owner Joe Gibbs) knows a little better than that. I think he’s coached a few things before.
“So it was on me to go out there and do it. I mean, I had a few friends out there today—a lot of them that probably had manufacturer or team alliances that they broke. I won’t name names to get them in trouble, but they were very, very loyal to us today. That paid dividends, for sure.
“I just counted on my buddies to help me and hope that you earned some respect from some of those guys when they had to make a choice whether they were going to push you or somebody else. And luckily we had the right pushes when we needed them.”
Brian Scott Provides Bright Spot For Richard Petty Motorsports
Before Sunday’s race, Richard Petty Motorsports had suffered through 31 races without a top-10 finish.
Drivers Brian Scott and Aric Almirola changed that. Scott ran a perfectly crafted race and finished second to Joey Logano, and Almirola came home eighth after working his way forward during the final 40 laps of the Hellman’s 500.
“A good finish always helps,” Scott said. “It helps with the team. It helps with the guys at the shop, the morale. Just trying to get any bit of a bright spot in this year has been difficult. I think that this is by far the brightest spot that we’ve had in a really challenging 2016 for Richard Petty Motorsports.
“I don’t know. … I guess the results and what this does for us going forward is yet to be determined. But just proud. I mean, the guys have worked hard all year. They’ve deserved a lot better finishes than we’ve given them. Just proud to deliver a good, solid top five, to do my job behind the wheel to give us a shot at the win—just have a good day for Richard Petty Motorsports.”
Scott’s previous best finish in his first 48 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts was 12th, most recently at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, in March.
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