FORT WORTH, Texas — Cars losing control in turns 3 and 4 was a frequent occurrence in Sunday’s (April 14) EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway, and the treacherous set of turns bit Denny Hamlin just as he was going for the win. In a NASCAR Cup Series race that featured a record-tying 16 cautions at Texas and an all-time record of cautions in a 400-mile race on 1.5-mile track, Hamlin looked to be in a good spot once he passed Chase Elliott for the lead with 22 laps to go. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver kept Elliott and third-place Brad Keselowski at a distance, until a Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spin with 13 laps to go set up a stop-and-go finish that took two overtimes and four cautions to finally reach the checkered flag.
Hamlin lost control of the lead to Elliott on lap 260 when Kyle Larson and Zane Smith wrecked. The two were running side-by-side for the lead when the yellow came out, and Elliott just barely took control of the race from that point on. The next restart was scheduled to be a two-lap shootout, this time with Elliott on the inside and Hamlin on the outside. The two went head-to-head on the backstretch, but Hamlin broke free and lost control, sending the No. 11 car backing into the Turn 4 wall.
The damage occurred from there, and Hamlin was only able to move his broken car up to 30th place as the penultimate car on the lead lap.
“I just took off in Turn 3,” Hamlin said. “I really battled it all day. And when I had to pump as much gas as I could in a green and white checkered car, I knew the scenario was that I probably wouldn’t be able to get out of the corner at the speed I was going. But all that mattered was the win, so I just kept spinning. “It didn’t go well (in the top lane). We had to be last but we were in a good position to win. We had a lot of early cautions when we were ahead and then (the race) we had a lot of early cautions when we were ahead. ) lost control, but it certainly didn’t help. “We were obviously side-by-side, but in Turn 3 I was on the inside. Even though he was next to me, I was where I was supposed to be. It didn’t require that kind of precaution, but here in Texas it’s a lot of precaution. But you have to take care of it and do the best you can.”
Elliott crossed the track in Turns 3 and 4, cutting into Hamlin’s line, but Hamlin didn’t say much about it, with both men gunning for the lead in the closing stages. “I know (Elliott) messed up (the course), but I don’t think it’s prohibited in any way, especially when you’re fighting for a win there,” Hamlin said. Ta. “So I think (the spin) was just a combination of bad aerodynamics and the car not running well on the top line all day.”
Elliott won in the second overtime and had enough fuel to take a victory lap for Poland in honor of the late Alan Kulwicki. Elliott’s win marked Hooters’ return to victory lane for the first time in the NASCAR Cup Series since Kulwicki’s last win at Pocono Raceway. In 1992.
The win ended Elliott’s winning streak at 42, and Sunday marked the 19th win of his Cup career. After narrowly missing out on a win at Martinsville Speedway last week, Hamlin certainly feels the No. 9 team has found its game again. “I think they’re slowly but surely getting better as the season goes on,” Hamlin said. “There seem to be several powerful organizations at the moment, and he belongs to one of them.” And he certainly could do this for a long time. He’s definitely been a threat because he’s done this before.”
Texas also marked seven consecutive Cup wins for either Hendrick Motorsports or Joe Gibbs Racing. The series begins next Sunday (April 21) at Talladega Superspeedway, where both teams will compete to continue their winning streak.
