Denny Hamlin looked to be in route to his first victory of the season Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway. After starting third the Joe Gibbs Racing driver stayed inside the top five and took the lead on lap 61 of the 500 lap event. He would hold that lead until lap 146 when lapped traffic allowed eventual race winner Kasey Kahne to take the point.
On lap 156 during a caution Hamlin won the race off pit road and retook the lead. But in lap 185 a loose wheel forced him to take it easy on his Toyota and allowed Kahne back by. The crew was able to change the wheel during a pit stop, but on the start Hamlin fell back to 12th. He was able to regain ground and was inside the top five by lap 275. By lap 372 it was made official that Hamlin led the most laps on the day, 117.
But on lap 341 Hamlin’s day began to unravel. While in third trying to race towards the front, Hamlin came up on Joey Logano in second. As the former Joe Gibbs Racing teammates entered turn one, Hamlin appeared to slip up into Logano sending the Penske Ford into the wall. Logano would recover but was none too pleased with the move. 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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