RELATED: Full race results | Standings | Chase Grid
Breaking down the full field for the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway:
1. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Hamlin was awesome on restarts and just plain fast Saturday night at his home track. He now has four top-five finishes in his past five starts, including two wins. What’s more, he heads into the Chase with a series-best eight consecutive top-10 finishes. Hamlin is smokin’. Grade: A++
2. Kyle Larson, No. 42 Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. Larson enters his first Chase riding finishes of first, third and second in the past three races. The No. 42 team is oozing confidence. Grade: A
3. Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Toyota, Furniture Row Racing. Not even a pit-road speeding penalty could hold back Truex, who led a race-high 193 laps. Surprising fact No. 1: This is the first time Truex has had back-to-back top-five finishes in more than a year. Grade: A+
4. Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Ford, Team Penske. Keselowski had a pit-road speeding penalty, missed a shift on a late restart that resulted in Matt Kenseth wrecking out of the race ... and still finished in the top five for the ninth time in the past 14 races. Top fives, by the way, are dynamite in the Chase. Grade: A-
5. Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Harvick’s pit-road speeding penalty came on the sixth caution. Notice how it didn’t torpedo his night? Or Truex’s, Keselowski’s or (as you’ll read next) Kasey Kahne’s? That’s what happens when a race has a record 16 cautions. Also worth noting: The top-five finish was Harvick’s fourth in a row. Grade: A
6. Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Kahne’s only ticket into the Chase was with a win, and he fell short. Kahne finished seventh last week at Darlington and has put together back-to-back top 10s for the first time in almost a year. And to close the book on speeding penalties (for now), Kahne’s came during the second caution. Grade: A
7. Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. Ryan Newman’s 15-point penalty after last week’s race made life a lot easier for McMurray, as did Newman's run-in late with Tony Stewart. Bottom line: McMurray turned in his fourth top-10 finish in the past five races and raced his way into the Chase with room to spare. Grade A
8. Kurt Busch, No. 41 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Busch didn’t get a speeding penalty, but penalized himself making sure he didn’t speed. How? He missed his pit stall during the second caution because he was looking down at his instruments to ensure he didn’t speed and had to come down pit road a second time for service. By Lap 229 he was back in the lead. Grade: A-
9. Kyle Busch, No. 18 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Busch’s 6.0 average running position trailed only Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr., but a final pit stop before overtime didn’t bear fruit. Grade: A
10. Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford, Team Penske. Logano heads into the Chase with 12 top-10 finishes in the past 14 races. Last year, it was 11 of 14 and he began the Chase with six top 10s, including three wins. Grade: A
11. Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Let’s see … two pit-road penalties and one meeting with the wall. Not exactly heading into the Chase with any momentum, are we? Surprising fact No. 2: Johnson has 10 top 10s this season. Unless he finishes in the top 10 in each of the final 10 races, he will fall short of at least 20 top 10s in a season for the first time in his career. Grade: C
12. Michael McDowell, No. 95 Chevrolet, Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing. In his 204th Cup start, McDowell produced the fourth-best finish of his career and his best finish on a non-restrictor plate track. All three of his career top 10s have come at Daytona. Grade: A
13. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. On a night filled with mistakes, drama and a track-record for cautions, you won’t find Dillon’s name associated with any of it. Mission accomplished. Welcome to the Chase. Grade: A
14. Trevor Bayne, No. 6 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Bayne is making progress, albeit incrementally. Saturday’s finish was his 11th top 15 in his past 20 starts. He had nine top 15s in his first 100 starts. Grade: B
15. Danica Patrick, No. 10 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. Patrick almost was collected in the wreck that caused the eighth caution. Instead, her night ended with her third-best finish of the season. Grade: B
16. Jeff Gordon, No. 88 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Gordon was involved in the third caution that resulted in Chase Elliott hitting the wall. Later, he somehow made it through the big Tony Stewart-Ryan Newman carnage unscathed. Gordon also spent some quality time in the top 10. Pretty eventful night for a retired guy. Grade: B
17. Aric Almirola, No. 43 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports. A flat tire and a pit-road penalty contributed to Almirola’s 26.1 average running position. To his credit, though, that’s nowhere near where he finished. Grade: B
18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 17 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Stenhouse was party to the seventh caution, and the No. 17 team got in on the pit-road penalty action en route to Stenhouse’s second straight 18th-place finish. Grade: B-
19. Chase Elliott, No. 24 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports. Problems and penalties on pit road plus a brush with the wall are footnotes on a night Elliott where was one of two rookies to make the Chase (Chris Buescher was the other). Grade: B-
20. AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Chevrolet, JTG Daugherty Racing. Two words that seemingly were attached Saturday night: "caution" and "Allmendinger." We also could add "spins," "penalties," and "damage to the 47." And somehow, despite all that, AJ finished 20th. Must be the Mr. Tickles Effect. Grade: C
21. Casey Mears, No. 13 Chevrolet, Germain Racing. Without his great save from the contact that brought out the eighth caution, there is no 21st-place finish. Grade: C+
22. Clint Bowyer, No. 15 Chevrolet, HScott Motorsports. Bowyer picked up only his 12th lead-lap finish of the season and is in jeopardy of having his fewest LLFs since his rookie season in 2006 (19). Grade: C
23. Greg Biffle, No. 16 Ford, Roush Fenway Racing. Biffle’s 500th career start might be remembered for what didn’t happen. Biffle spun in overtime, but because he was able to save his car and not hit anything, there was no caution. Would the outcome have been different? We’ll never know but Denny Hamlin should thank Biffle. Grade: C
24. Chris Buescher, No. 34 Ford, Front Row Motorsports. Buescher was in and out of dangerous situations all night -- situations he never should have been in. All he had to do was protect his spot in the top 30 and instead he was getting "racy." Yes, he finished 24th. Yes, David Ragan’s crash cemented Buescher’s spot in the Chase. But Buescher’s night easily -- and needlessly -- could have ended earlier. Thus, his low mark. Grade: D
25. Dylan Lupton, No. 83 Toyota, BK Racing. In only his second Sprint Cup start, Lupton ended up on top of Ryan Newman’s car in the big wreck on Lap 363 -- and still finished 25th. Grade: A
26. Reed Sorenson, No. 55 Chevrolet, Premium Motorsports. With four laps to go in regulation, Sorenson was hit by Kyle Larson and made a great save to keep from going into the wall. He was rewarded with his second-best finish over the past two seasons. Grade: A-
27. Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 32 Ford, Go Fas Racing. Two Sprint Cup milestones for Earnhardt: His first laps led (two, during the first caution) and his best finish (in 16 starts over two seasons). Congrats. Grade: A
28. Ryan Newman, No. 31 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Newman needed a Hail Mary to make the Chase. It didn’t happen. Instead, his incident with Tony Stewart will become part of NASCAR lore. Not because of the wreck itself, but because of what Newman said afterward. When he looked right into the NBC camera and called out Stewart, it was like watching professional wrestling on Saturday mornings when I was in junior high. Great stuff. Grade: WWE
29. Regan Smith, No. 7 Chevrolet, Tommy Baldwin Racing. Despite losing a tire and crashing out of the race with two laps to go in regulation, Smith scored a top-30 finish for the fourth straight week. Grade: C-
30. Josh Wise, No. 30 Chevrolet, The Motorsports Group. Wise put together back-to-back top-30 finishes for the second time this season. Grade: C
31. Michael Annett, No. 46 Chevrolet, HScott Motorsports. Annett brought out the ninth caution when a flat tire sent him right into the wall on Lap 291. He finished 17 laps back. Grade: D
32. Carl Edwards, No. 19 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Edwards was involved in two incidents, including the big wreck on Lap 363. The result was his career-worst fifth DNF of the season. Grade: D
33. Tony Stewart, No. 14 Chevrolet, Stewart-Haas Racing. For the second race in a row, Stewart wrecked an opponent. Although you have to admire his candor for admitting it, the collateral damage from the incident with Ryan Newman was unacceptable. Grade: F
34. David Ragan, No. 23 Toyota, BK Racing. Ragan and his destroyed car easily qualified as collateral damage from the Stewart-Newman incident. Until that point, the Ragan-Chris Buescher points battle was a key element of the evening. Grade: D
35. Brian Scott, No. 44 Ford, Richard Petty Motorsports. Scott, who was the subject of Tony Stewart’s wrath at Darlington, got the short end of a Stewart revenge run again when his No. 44 plowed into David Ragan’s car and then was hit from behind by AJ Allmendinger. Grade: D
36. Landon Cassill, No. 38 Ford, Front Row Motorsports. A brakes issue sent the No. 38 to the garage early. Cassill finished the race 49 laps back. Grade: F
37. Matt DiBenedetto, No. 93 Toyota, BK Racing. DiBenedetto’s night ended when a tire went down and he hit the wall hard with less than 50 laps to go in regulation. Grade: F
38. Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. Brad Keselowski’s missed shift on a late restart set off a chain of events that left Kenseth in the wall and through for the night. Kenseth was not pleased with Keselowski, who took responsibility for the mishap after the race. Grade: C
39. Ryan Blaney, No. 21 Ford, Wood Brothers Racing. Blaney’s shot at a good night ended right after the flyover. Well, almost. In the first five laps Blaney suffered tire damage while battling with Trevor Bayne. On Lap 11 the tire went down, and Blaney went into the wall. "Two guys going for the same spot. It was a shame it happened so early. … Maybe a little stubborn-headed on both of our parts, but I should know better than that." Yes, you should. To get into a bad spot in the first five laps of a 400-lap race? Even a rookie knows better than that. Grade: F
40. Paul Menard, No. 27 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing. Menard was running in the top 15 on Lap 265 when a tire rub turned into a blowout, contact with the wall and then Ricky Stenhouse Jr. He finished last for the second time in the past 16 races, which equals his last-place finishes in his first 337 Cup starts. Grade: F