Denny Hamlin lands Busch Pole for Talladega playoff race

Posted on September 29, 2021October 1, 2021 by Staff Report

Denny Hamlin earned the Busch Pole Award for Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (2 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Hamlin, locked into the Round of 8 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs after last Sunday’s victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, will start on pole for the fourth time in 2021 in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Justin Allgaier will start on pole in the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet for Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Sparks 300 at Talladega (4:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the second race in the Xfinity Series Playoffs’ Round of 12.

Ben Rhodes earned the top starting spot for Saturday’s Chevrolet Silverado 250 at Talladega (1 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) for the second race of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs’ Round of 8.

As NASCAR adapted to COVID-19 protocols last season, practice and qualifying were eliminated at a majority of national-series events to limit at-track time, exposure and to cut race weekend costs. To determine starting lineups, competition officials used grouped draws, added inversions for weekend doubleheaders, and eventually adopted a performance-metrics formula. That metrics format remains in place this season, drawing on performance from both individual races and season-long results.

NASCAR’s metrics formula for 2021 weighs:

25 percent: Driver’s finishing position from the previous race
25 percent: Car owner’s finishing position from the previous race
35 percent: Team owner points ranking
15 percent: Fastest lap from the previous race

See the full lineup for Sunday’s Cup Series race below.

Start pos.	Driver	Car #	Team
1	Denny Hamlin	11	Joe Gibbs Racing
2	Kyle Busch	18	Joe Gibbs Racing
3	Chase Elliott	9	Hendrick Motorsports
4	Ryan Blaney	12	Team Penske
5	Kyle Larson	5	Hendrick Motorsports
6	Martin Truex Jr.	19	Joe Gibbs Racing
7	Brad Keselowski	2	Team Penske
8	Joey Logano	22	Team Penske
9	Kevin Harvick	4	Stewart-Haas Racing
10	William Byron	24	Hendrick Motorsports
11	Alex Bowman	48	Hendrick Motorsports
12	Christopher Bell	20	Joe Gibbs Racing
13	Tyler Reddick	8	Richard Childress Racing
14	Kurt Busch	1	Chip Ganassi Racing
15	Matt DiBenedetto	21	Wood Brothers Racing
16	Austin Dillon	3	Richard Childress Racing
17	Chase Briscoe	14	Stewart-Haas Racing
18	Daniel Suárez	99	Trackhouse Racing
19	Bubba Wallace	23	23XI Racing
20	Aric Almirola	10	Stewart-Haas Racing
21	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	47	JTG Daugherty Racing
22	Michael McDowell	34	Front Row Motorsports
23	Ross Chastain	42	Chip Ganassi Racing
24	Chris Buescher	17	Roush Fenway Racing
25	Ryan Newman	6	Roush Fenway Racing
26	Erik Jones	43	Richard Petty Motorsports
27	Ryan Preece	37	JTG Daugherty Racing
28	Cole Custer	41	Stewart-Haas Racing
29	Corey LaJoie	7	Spire Motorsports
30	Anthony Alfredo	38	Front Row Motorsports
31	Cody Ware	51	Petty Ware Racing
32	BJ McLeod	78	Live Fast Motorsports
33	Justin Allgaier	77	Spire Motorsports
34	Josh Bilicki	52	Rick Ware Racing
35	Quin Houff	00	StarCom Racing
36	Joey Gase	53	Rick Ware Racing
37	Garrett Smithley	15	Rick Ware Racing
38	Justin Haley	16	Kaulig Racing
39	James Davison	66	Motorsports Business Management
40	Landon Cassill	96	Gaunt Brothers Racing

Practice and qualifying are tentatively scheduled for eight Cup Series races this year. Just one race remains with Busch Pole Qualifying on the schedule — the season-ending championship race Nov. 7 at Phoenix Raceway.

Posted on September 28, 2021 by Staff Report

NASCAR officials issued penalties Tuesday to five NASCAR Cup Series teams and one Xfinity Series team for lug-nut violations from last weekend’s events at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Among those was a one-race suspension and a $20,000 fine handed to Rodney Childers, crew chief of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford for Cup Series Playoffs contender Kevin Harvick. His No. 4 entry was found with two unsecured lug nuts in a check after a ninth-place finish in Sunday’s South Point 400.

Four other Cup Series crew chiefs each were hit with $10,000 fines for single-lug infractions after the Las Vegas event:

• No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (crew chief Cliff Daniels; driver Kyle Larson)
• No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (crew chief Ben Beshore; driver Kyle Busch)
• No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet (crew chief Phil Surgen; driver Ross Chastain)
• No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet (crew chief Travis Mack; driver Daniel Suárez)

In the Xfinity Series, crew chief Mike Bumgarner was fined $5,000 after the race-winning No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet for Josh Berry was found with a single lug nut unsecured.

Posted on September 28, 2021September 28, 2021 by NASCAR Foundation Release

CONCORD, N.C. (Sept. 28, 2021) – NASCAR Cup Series veteran driver Kurt Busch unveiled his Monster Energy Chevrolet Camaro with colored window nets; specifically, pink window nets, a unique look for his or any NASCAR race car. The 2004 champion announced plans for the special window nets, dubbed “Window of Hope,” offering each team in the NCS field the opportunity to display a pink window net at next month’s running of the Bank of America ROVAL™ 400 (The ROVAL) at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The inspiration for “Window of Hope” came from one of Busch’s young fans to show support for breast cancer survivors and those continuing to battle breast cancer.

The NASCAR Foundation | Chip Ganassi Racing

In September of 2019, Kurt Busch received a letter from a young fan, Mason Bradley, expressing how big of a fan he was of the 2004 champion, and his hopes to one day meet Busch in person. Mason’s letter included a hand-drawn image of Busch’s No. 1 Chevy and conclude, “maybe you could do the window net pink.” Bradley’s request for the pink window net was an inspiration to support others, like his mother Stephanie, who was battling breast cancer at the time; she is now in remission. The note resonated with Busch and set the wheels-in-motion to try and make the pink window net idea a reality.

The NASCAR Foundation | Chip Ganassi Racing

The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season presented many challenges for the industry and hopes of making the pink window nets a reality were put on hold. Through hours of commitment and support from NASCAR, The NASCAR Foundation and Thermal Control, “Window of Hope,” will finally become a reality this year at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Part of the initiative will feature an online auction through the support of The NASCAR Foundation. Following the ROVAL race, each participating driver will sign their window net which will be auctioned with the proceeds benefiting breast cancer research and treatment. Proceeds from the campaign will be used to offset out-of-pocket expenses associated with providing care for families currently facing a breast cancer diagnosis. NASCAR fans can go to www.NASCARfoundation.org/pinknets to place a bid and support “Window of Hope.”

Posted on September 28, 2021October 3, 2021 by Staff Report

Greg Zipadelli is on the entry list as the crew chief of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford for Monday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway (1 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Zipadelli will fill in for Rodney Childers, who is serving a one-race suspension for the No. 4 car having two lug nuts not secure in post-race inspection at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. A $20,000 fine will also accompany that penalty when those announcements are made by NASCAR later.

Longtime SHR hand Tony Gibson shifts over to competition director for the weekend on all four cars for the organization.

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4, finished ninth at Las Vegas and is currently 10th in the standings for the Round of 12 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Harvick is seven points below the elimination line, but he has two more chances — at Talladega and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval — to advance to the Round of 8.

Harvick, the 2014 champion, has yet to win this season after getting nine victories last year, but he has top-10 finishes in four straight races in 2021 entering Talladega, where has one career victory (in the 2010 spring race).

Zipadelli has 34 career Cup Series victories and two championships as a crew chief, all but one of those coming with three-time champion Tony Stewart. Zipadelli’s most recent crew-chief experience came last season as a fill-in on the No. 14 team of Clint Bowyer, who finished 19th and 10th in those races. He also worked with Chase Briscoe in the Xfinity Series for four races in 2020 and helped guide him to three wins last year.

Posted on September 27, 2021 by Sponsored Content

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RELATED: Enter for your chance to win

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Posted on September 27, 2021September 27, 2021 by Zack Albert

Hand it to Denny Hamlin. If there was a formula for a reduced-pressure route to the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs’ promised land, Hamlin has hit on the right combination this year — 2-for-2.

After just missing out on the Regular Season Championship bouquet through a winless first 26 races, Hamlin’s two victories this season have come at ideal times. His Southern 500 triumph at Darlington Raceway helped him advance early in the Round of 16 opener. Sunday’s victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway has saved Hamlin the torment of Talladega and the Charlotte Roval in the Round of 12’s remaining races, putting an automatic Round of 8 berth in his hands.

All according to plan, says Chris Gabehart, crew chief of Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

“It really can’t be overstated,” Gabehart said of the edge provided by the newfound Round of 12 immunity. “Again, these race teams at this level, they’re all professionals. They deal with pressure so well. It’s just part of the job in pro sports. If there’s a competitor out there, a team out there, that’s not having to deal with that pressure, it’s a big advantage. I’m happy it’s the 11 car.”

The team’s timing so far might be impeccable, but the betterment of the No. 11 group with both rules packages that the Cup Series uses has been a months-long process. Hamlin said that the higher-downforce, 550-horsepower package used at Las Vegas and other intermediate tracks had been “our bread and butter,” but acknowledged that Hendrick Motorsports — notably led by Kyle Larson — had taken the lead performance-wise with that package in the earlier portions of the season.

Hamlin said Joe Gibbs Racing had made some 550-horsepower gains this summer, but that an offseason point of focus was also devoted to improvement on the lower-drag, 750-horsepower tracks. “Chris knows I don’t like to suck on short tracks,” Hamlin said, “so they put a lot of emphasis on that.” But that focus was also strategic: The last two races of the season — at Martinsville Speedway and the title race at Phoenix Raceway — both use the 750-horsepower package.

So far, the divided focus hasn’t made the team any weaker.

“It’s really hard to be great everywhere, but we try. We try the best we can to do that,” Hamlin said. “But (Hendrick has) just been really, really strong obviously. They’re able to do great things with their cars, especially in traffic, that is very, very hard to replicate. We’re still taking steps and strides forward I believe to try to match ’em. Again, it’s very, very close. I never thought that we’ve been worse than a third- to fourth-place car on these tracks all year long. It’s just today we kind of finished the deal.”

MORE: All of Hamlin’s Cup Series wins in photos

Closing out races was a trouble spot for Hamlin earlier in the season, but the source of any frustration from the win-column goose egg was offset by an otherwise strong start. After opening the year with eight top-five finishes in the first nine races, Hamlin said in April that he would not trade for a win at the expense of overall performance: “We’re smashing everyone. I’d still rather be where I’m at.”

Multiple victories are now paired with that on-track efficiency, and at just the right time. In four playoff races, Hamlin has led 545 of a possible 1534 laps — an impressive 35.5% clip.

“We knew that this is what we’re capable of,” Hamlin said. “Really we’ve shown this all year long. It shows in laps led, top fives, top 10s. For whatever reason, whether it be bad luck, mistakes on our own, we haven’t got all the bunches of wins that we’ve had in the past. Hopefully this is the start of a really good run.”

Posted on September 27, 2021 by Kyle Souza

SEEKONK, Mass. — Eight was the lucky number for Dave Darling at Seekonk Speedway on Sept. 18. The driver of the No. 52 Johnson’s Landscaping Pro Stock captured an eighth-place finish in the 40-lap feature, which was enough to clinch him a record eighth track championship. Competing in the top NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Racing Series division at Seekonk, Darling also sealed the NASCAR state champion for the state of Massachusetts.

In 75 years of racing at Seekonk, a third-mile Massachusetts oval located just 15 minutes from Providence, Rhode Island, no one had accomplished the feat of winning eight titles before. It was the fourth consecutive championship for Darling in the class, and it came on the heels of eight victories in 14 races, along with top-five finishes in all but three events.

“This isn’t how we envisioned the night to go,” Darling said after being involved in a first-lap wreck on the final night and riding to eighth at the end. “Car was awful after that, but hats off to the crew. We had a great season. We all wanted to win on the last night, but eight championships, it is just unbelievable. Four in a row is crazy. I can’t thank everyone enough — my family, my dad for all of his support, my mom, my kids. Everyone.”

This season, Darling had to hold off rising star Ryan Kuhn, a member of the Alan Kulwicki Driver Development Program. Kuhn finished second in points, 52 points back, but at times the season seemed a lot closer than that. Kuhn didn’t go to Victory Lane like Darling did, but was consistent — inside the top-five himself in all but a few races. It was the victories that allowed Darling to flex his muscles, once again.

And that’s nothing new for him.

Over the last four championship runs, Darling has more than 25 wins, catapulting himself into title glory. Darling also won titles in 2013, 2012, 2007 and 2006. His first Pro Stock victory was in 2003, with his most recent coming this year. All of the titles have come with Ronnie Pond as part of the team, with about half coming with Pond as crew chief.

Darling won the title from 2017-2019, but during 2020, Seekonk didn’t compete in NASCAR Saturday action due to COVID-19. Jeff Belyea joined the team in the middle of the stretch, joining Ronnie Pond, and the two made an epic combination, one of the best in track history. Darling followed up a year off by returning to title form this year with eight wins — it was like he didn’t even have a break.

“It’s definitely emotional to get number eight. I have been waiting a year for it,” Darling said. “It was a long year and this was probably one of the more stressful championships. Even though the points were not tight, we just didn’t want to have a bad week to put ourselves in a bad spot.”

Luckily for Darling, when chaos struck on the final night, it didn’t matter. All he had to do was take the green in the 40-lap Pro Stock feature and the championship was sealed up.

“You can have the fastest car but on any given night anything can happen,” Darling said. “You try to be patient and make your own luck to some degree. It was definitely one of the more stressful years. Ryan (Kuhn) had a great season — so if we didn’t have the season we had — he’s been finishing top-five effort week and it could have been real close.”

For now, the celebration is well underway for the Seekonk, Massachusetts driver. With dedicated sponsors and team members, he will spend the winter months as champion again. But this time, he’s re-written the record books forever.

“I can’t thank everyone enough, to write the history books here is amazing,” Darling said. “I came here as a kid. It’s all of the people that make it happen. It’s the fans, the families of the crew… Jeff Belyea, Kevin, Kevin, my dad, Ronnie, Tom, Gary… some of them have been here for all eight. Their family allows them to do it every Saturday night, and we are thankful for that. It’s a grind, and a team effort.”

For more information on Seekonk Speedway, visit SeekonkSpeedway.com and follow the track on social media for the latest news.

Posted on September 27, 2021September 27, 2021 by Zack Albert

Hendrick Motorsports’ clout this season on the intermediate-sized tracks rose again Sunday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with a hold of the top four spots midway through the South Point 400. That in-progress show of strength wound up being a widely mixed assortment by the checkered flag.

Chase Elliott carried the organization’s banner in the opening race of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs’ Round of 12, securing a second-place finish behind race winner Denny Hamlin as his teammates scrambled for the running order’s remnants. Elliott made up ground in short spurts near the end, but was left .442 seconds back and relegated to his sixth runner-up result of the year.

RELATED: Leaderboard | At-track photos

“Super close,” Elliott said. “Really proud of our NAPA team. Feel like we’ve been performing at a really nice level the last three or four weeks, we just haven’t had great results to show for it. Proud of the effort tonight. Looking forward to the next two. Going to be wild. Looking forward to it. ”

The “next two” that Elliott referenced are the approaching races in the three-race stanza — an expected 500-mile maelstrom Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway and the Round of 12 finale at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s unpredictable Roval layout. The defending Cup Series champ and his teammates are all at varying points along the elimination line after Sunday’s 400-miler, which provided no easier path.

Kyle Larson, a winner in March at Vegas, started from the pole position and led 95 laps — second only to Hamlin’s 137. But a different pit-stop strategy through the second stage left him off the lead lap, needing the wave-around rule to put his No. 5 Chevrolet back into contention. He was only able to muster a 10th-place result, but holds a 57-point edge over the elimination line thanks to his Stage 1 win at Vegas and his stockpile of playoff points.

“Just being on older tires and having to battle through all of them was difficult,” said Larson, noting that he had to stay out after his wave-around in the break after Stage 2. “You forget how hard everybody races back there; it’s pretty wild. There were moments where I thought I was going to end up crashed or get frustrated and run myself into the wall. But we were able to mentally fight through it and come away with a top 10.”

Meg Oliphant | Getty Images

The troubles were more pronounced for Hendrick stablemates William Byron and Alex Bowman, who are both below the elimination line heading to Talladega — Byron at minus-4, and Bowman 13 points back.

Byron was among a handful of drivers who started at the back of the pack after issues in pre-race inspection with his No. 24 Chevrolet. He roared up through the field into the top 10 after just 25 laps, but a sluggish Stage 2 pit stop after an issue changing the right-front tire forced the team to improvise. He lost a lap in the process, regained it as the free pass at the stage break, then tumbled back in the order with a flat tire in the final stage. He placed 18th.

“We were able to drive all the way back to the front from the back again, so that was twice today,” said Byron, who led seven laps. “And then we had the flat tire. We had an awesome car. The No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet was amazing. I think it was right there with the No. 11 (Hamlin). We’ll just have to keep bringing that speed.”

Bowman was befallen by his own tire issues, making an extra pit stop under green-flag conditions on Lap 213 and dropping two laps off the pace. He rallied from 29th to 22nd by the end, but that was next-to-last among the 12 remaining playoff drivers at Vegas; only Christopher Bell placed worse, in 24th.

“We weren’t great,” Bowman said. “The Stage 2 strategy just didn’t work out for us and it put us in a tough spot there to start Stage 3. The valve stem got knocked off on a pit stop and the rest is history. Not a good day on any aspects. We had a decent car, we just didn’t have the pit road strategy we needed.”

The four-car effort will try to regroup at the 2.66-mile Talladega circuit, where the specter of large, playoff-damaging wrecks looms. Byron said his strategy will be fairly straightforward.

“Just be aggressive. I was aggressive all day today and passed a ton of cars,” Byron said. “Just be as aggressive as I’ve been on the speedways in the past. We won a race on a superspeedway last year and I feel like we can do it again. The Roval is a good track for us too, so we’ll see what happens.”

Posted on September 26, 2021September 27, 2021 by Staff Report

After the opening race of the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, here’s a brief look at the playoff picture. There are two races remaining in the Round of 12 before the field is whittled to eight, with four drivers eliminated from the postseason after the Oct. 10 race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.

Winner

Denny Hamlin. The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver won Sunday night’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, marking his second victory of 2021 and the 46th of his career. Hamlin led a race-high 137 laps of the 267-circuit event. He is the first title contender locked into the Round of 8.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Who’s hot

Kyle Larson. The No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports driver won Stage 1, earning yet another playoff point to add to his already large total (now at 47). Larson also led a second-best 96 laps around the 1.5-mile Nevada track.

Kyle Busch. The No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver finished third after placing second in both of the stages. Busch entered the race fifth in the standings and only further padded his cushion on the elimination line.

Who’s not

Christopher Bell. The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver entered Sunday’s race 11th in the standings (out by nine points), didn’t capture any stage points ( 22nd in Stage 1 and 25th in Stage 2) and ultimately finished 24th overall. Bell did not help his playoff survival chances in Las Vegas.

Alex Bowman. The No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver leaves Las Vegas on the flip side of the elimination line, going from seventh to 11th. Bowman didn’t place within the top 10 in either stage (11th in Stage 1 and 24th in Stage 2) and ended up finishing 22nd.

BUBBLE WATCH

Rank	Driver	Points to cutoff
5.	Ryan Blaney	+24
6.	Chase Elliott	+22
7.	Joey Logano	+6
8.	Brad Keselowski	+4
——–	ELIMINATION LINE	———
9.	William Byron	-4
10.	Kevin Harvick	-7
11.	Alex Bowman	-13
12.	Christopher Bell	-25

Next race

The NASCAR Cup Series travels to Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama for the YellaWood 500 next Sunday (2 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Who it favors

Brad Keselowski. The No. 2 Team Penske Ford driver has the most career wins (six) out of the entire NASCAR Cup Series field and the best career average finish (15.6) out of the current NASCAR Playoffs field. Teammate Joey Logano has the second-most career wins (three); his playoff standing is stronger than that of Keselowski.

Who it hurts

Alex Bowman. The No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver has the worst career finish (24.6 in 12 starts) out of NASCAR Playoffs contenders with more than three starts. The only one whose career average finish is worse: Christopher Bell (28.3 in three starts). Kyle Larson, however, has not a single top-five finish in 13 starts; but he just so happens to be well above the elimination line.

Posted on September 26, 2021September 27, 2021 by Holly Cain

LAS VEGAS — As he crossed the Las Vegas Motor Speedway finish line to claim the South Point 400 trophy, Denny Hamlin screamed into his team radio, “Viva Las Vegas.” And indeed, it was that kind of night for the perennial championship contender, who led a race-best 137 of the 267 laps to earn his first Las Vegas victory in 20 starts and take an automatic bid into the next round of the NASCAR Playoffs.

The 40-year-old Virginian edged reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott by 0.442 seconds. Elliott cut into Hamlin’s lead on every one of the closing 10 laps, taking full advantage of traffic, but was ultimately unable to catch Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Hamlin’s JGR teammates, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr., finished third and fourth, respectively, with Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney rounding out the top five – all playoff drivers.

Tyler Reddick, who just missed advancing to this three-race Round of 12 by a mere two points last week, finished sixth after running among the top three for much of the late-race laps.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Penske’s Brad Keselowski, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kurt Busch, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick and regular-season champion Kyle Larson rounded out the top 10. Keselowski, Harvick and Larson are also eligible for the championship.

Hamlin led seven different times, won Stage 2 and took the lead for good with 39 laps remaining — facing that challenge from Elliott in the waning laps of what was a relatively clean race with only one yellow flag outside of the competition caution and two stage breaks.

The only other caution for an on-track incident came out for a single-car accident involving driver Joey Gase, whose No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet lost a tire and made heavy impact with the wall. He was examined in the infield care center but transported to an area hospital for a precautionary exam.

“It feels so good to win in Vegas, last couple times I’ve been so close but just didn’t have the right breaks, but they got the car great and great to hold those guys off,” said Hamlin, who earned his 46th career victory and becomes the first driver to officially earn a shot into the Round of 8. “I’m so happy to not have to worry about the next two weeks, but I am a professional and I will work just as hard each and every week to win.”

Obviously disappointed not to win, Elliott was still enthusiastic about his runner-up finish — his 12th top five of the season — rallying from a pit-stop strategy that put him a lap down at one point.

“We were really close, just not quite close enough,” Elliott said. “Denny did a really good job controlling the gap to me and he was having a hard time (lapping) with the 21 (Matt DiBenedetto).

“Super close. Really proud of our NAPA team and I feel like we’ve been performing at a really nice level the last three or four weeks, just haven’t had great results to show for it.”

Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Larson, certainly looked like the driver to beat early on. He led 95 laps and won his series-best 15th stage in the opening portion of the night, but a different pit strategy put him a lap down mid-race and he never fully recovered to challenge for the lead again.

While Hamlin earned the automatic bid into the next round of the playoffs, Larson still leads the championship standings — 22 points over Kyle Busch.

MORE: Busch brothers hit career milestones

With his seventh-place finish, Keselowski moved into the eighth position in the standings, with races at Talladega Superspeedway and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval remaining to determine which eight drivers move on in the championship battle.

Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron, who suffered a tire problem late in the race, finished 18th and is now four points below the elimination line. Even with his top 10, Harvick remains ninth in the standings — still looking for his first victory of the season.

Hendrick driver Alex Bowman finished 22nd and is 13 points behind Keselowski. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell finished 25th, two laps down Sunday night after fighting through several setbacks. He is 25 points out of the transfer position.

The second race in this playoff round is the YellaWood 500, next Sunday at Talladega (2 p.m. ET on NBC/NBC Sport App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Keselowski won at Talladega this April. Hamlin is the defending playoff race winner there.

NOTE: The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota passed NASCAR’s post-race inspection, thus confirming Denny Hamlin’s victory. The No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford of Kevin Harvick had two lug nuts not safe and secure, which means crew chief Rodney Childers will be fined $20,000 and suspended from the next race. These cars all had one lug nut not safe and secure — the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (driver Kyle Larson), the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (driver Kyle Busch), the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet (driver Ross Chastain) and the No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Team Chevrolet (driver Daniel Suarez) — and their respective crew chiefs will be fined $10,000 each.