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2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race Twenty-Six Richmond

Hmmm, the cars are going four wide on parade laps. Pretty. Different. Apparently this is to thank the fans. I wonder how that works. Shrug.

Hurricane Irma is headed toward southwest Florida then onward into the Atlanta metro area, so weather talk is everywhere. The storm is huge. It was larger than the state of Georgia on Friday. Since it has shifted to a more western path it won’t cover the state as it was predicted to do. The track I saw today though looked like it would affect the western half of the state – including the Atlanta area.

Matt Kenseth leads the field to the green with Denny Hamlin alongside.

JGR and Penske got popped for rear-end-gear issues during the week – popped kinda hard with the penalties getting increased at the end of the week. Finishes were deemed encumbered in both the Cup and Xfinity races.

Looks like the stages for this race will be 100-100-200.

Congrats to Elliott Sadler on clinching the Xfinity Series Regular Season Championship last night. I wish him much luck on winning the Xfinity Series Championship.

Caution on lap 34 of 400 for Landon Cassill engaging the outside wall.

Restarting on lap 40 of 400.

Caution is out on lap 84 or so – not sure why – the radio guys are talking about Matt Kenseth locking up his brakes to avoid hitting Danica ‘Lil Dude’ Patrick, but no one is talking about the caution itself.

Restarting on lap 93 of 400. ‘It’ stayed out so will lead the field to the green.

Kyle ‘KyBu’ Busch wins stage one holding off ‘Kutey Kyle’.

Restarting on lap 110 of 400.

Martin Truex Jr wins stage two. His eighteenth.

Restarting on lap 210 of 400.

Caution on lap 256 of 400 for ‘Lil Dude’ hitting the wall – seemingly with some help from Austin ‘Frankenstein’ Dillon.

There was an ambulance parked at the entrance to pit road. Matt Kenseth ended up slamming into the rear of Clint Bowyer when Bowyer checked up to go around the ambulance. Somehow Joey “Squinty-Douchey” Logano got a piece of that too.

Caution on lap 397 of 400 for Derricke Cope visiting the wall.

Martin Truex Jr had been well ahead of the field for quite a while.

We’re heading to overtime.

Martin Truex Jr hits pit road from the lead. ‘Kutey’ Kyle Larson also comes in from second.

‘Kutey’ Kyle beat Truex off pit road.

Truex brings out the caution hitting the wall on the final lap possibly with some help from Denny Hamlin.

The race finishes under caution and checkered flags.

What a sucky end to the race.

So the 16 drivers in the playoff are:

2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs field

  1. Martin Truex Jr.
  2. Kyle Larson
  3. Kyle Busch
  4. Brad Keselowski
  5. Jimmie Johnson
  6. Kevin Harvick
  7. Denny Hamlin
  8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  9. Ryan Blaney
  10. Chase Elliott
  11. Ryan Newman
  12. Kurt Busch
  13. Austin Dillon
  14. Kasey Kahne
  15. Matt Kenseth
  16. Jamie McMurray

They’re actually doing a trophy presentation to Martin for the regular season championship. Cole and Pearn and Barney Visser are there for the photo op.

Scott Miller SVP of Competition said a directive was given from the tower and it wasn’t followed and they will investigate to make sure it doesn’t happen again regarding the ambulance stopping at the commitment line on lap 258 of the race. He also said he doesn’t think ‘not holding the 20 to the 5 minute clock’ would’ve changed the outcome of their day.

They waived the commitment line violations tonight due to cars trying to get around the ambulance. They didn’t waive them for a safety truck doing something similar resulting in Maritn Truex Jr’s commitment line penalty in the April race at Richmond.

I wonder if there was online coverage of the regular season end ceremonies – the picture taking with the trophy and the such. I usually enjoy watching that, but when I was logged on all I saw was the microphone awaiting Kyle Larson’s appearance. I don’t know if I missed it due to the weirdness that sometimes strikes my browser with NASCAR video content, or if they simply didn’t do the usual coverage.

NASCAR News:

    1. Larson Conquers Richmond in Overtime.
    2. Matt Kenseth crashes after ambulance parks on track during NASCAR race.
    3. Kenseth Captures Richmond Pole.
    4. NASCAR Increases Rear Suspension Penalty.
    5. Hamlin Fine With Taking Wins Away.
    6. Kenseth: ‘We Just Run Our Own Race’.
    7. Huge Challenge for Logano.
    8. Milestone Start for Harvick.
    9. A Win and They’re In.
    10. Atlanta, Talladega Open for ‘Irma’ Evacuees.
    11. No. 11 Team Penalized after Darlington Win.
    12. Ives Suspended, Interim Crew Chief Named.
    13. GEICO Extends with Germain, Ty Dillon.
    14. Dale Earnhardt Jr. blows announcement of Jimmie Johnson’s new venture | NASCAR.
    15. Who is Bobby Earnhardt? Latest driver in famous family makes NASCAR Xfinity Series debut | NASCAR.
    16. Denny Hamlin reacts to penalty, crew chief suspension.
    17. Kyle Busch trolls haters on Twitter.
    18. Elliott Sadler wins XFINITY Series regular season championship.
    19. NASCAR: What Denny Hamlin’s encumbered win means in playoffs.
    20. Should NASCAR change its schedule to avoid the NFL?.
    21. NASCAR rookie can only laugh as new ‘That Jones Boy’ nickname takes off.
    22. Ty Dillon focused on growing at Germain Racing.
    23. Keselowski Richmond XFINITY Winner.
    24. Wallace Set for XFINITY Return at Chicago.

 

Next Race: Chicago

GO 48!!!!