Restarts were the key , and the story of the race, Sunday and no one restarted better than Denny Hamlin. Hamlin took the lead for the final time on a restart with five laps to go after he was one of the few drivers to stay out on old tires and held off his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Carl Edwards to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup MyAFibRisk.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.
“It was 50-50 – I was going to get in there and hope that everything worked out,” Hamlin said of his chances on the final restart. “
Hamlin started deeper in the field than any of the other 16 Chase drivers and overcame a spin on lap two to win his 25th career win, his second of the season and his first at Chicagoland. The win secures Hamlin a spot in the next round of the Chase and came after a wild day that saw at least one Chase favorite suffer misfortune that leaves him deep in a hole. MORE>>>
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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