Denny Hamlin wins at Watkins Glen

“Should’ve won both road courses (Hamlin was second to Stewart at Sonoma), which is something we never would’ve predicted going into the year”.

There were eight cautions and two red flags in the sold out grandstand Sunday event. We can still go get six or seven wins before the year is out, I think.

“It didn’t get any better throughout the day”, Hamlin said. The 45-year-old three-time Cup champion, who’s retiring at season’s end, has reverted to form, heating up in the dog days of summer.

Hamlin said that his biggest disappointment in his narrow miss at Sonoma was not completing the cycle of victories on all types of tracks that NASCAR races on.

Hamlin was holding off on a charging Martin Truex Jr (No. 78) and Brad Keselowski (No. 2) who were there to battle Hamlin for the lead. Keselowski also logged more than 70 laps in a Goodyear tire test in late July as he seeks that breakthrough Cup triumph at The Glen.

Once the duo made it to pit road, Keselowski walked over to discuss the incident with Truex Jr. Keselowski spun Truex in the turn and Hamlin coasted to the victory. Truex rode on Hamlin’s bumper, then moved out of line to make his move. After Keselowski’s podium finish, he gained a nine-point advantage over the No. 4 Chevy.

Fourth went to A. J. Allmendinger and fifth to Tony Stewart. NASCAR was forced to red-flag (13:19) the race after Ricky Stenhouse Jr. lost control of his auto in Turn 5 on Lap 53. Both were trying to avoid the No. 78 as Allmendinger was below Larson and bumped the No. 42 and went for a spin.

It didn’t help that the race had two stoppages for a total of 30 minutes. The first one was on lap 52 out of turn five going into the straightaway towards turn six. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. lost control of his No. 17 Ford coming out of the sweeping right-hander and skidded across the track.

Also failing to make the top 12 were Jimmie Johnson (13th), Kevin Harvick (15th), rookie Chase Elliott (16th) and Kurt Busch (17th).

The second red flag came in on lap 83 when a wreck happened in turn five.

“These CSX guys, they worked really hard to get this fixed quickly and got back on track and took the green flag with everybody else there”.

The Watkins Glen track underwent a major repaving during the offseason leading Goodyear to hold a special test in May. The driver broke his back in a March 2013 crash with Logano, but had suffered from back issues before that injury.

“At the end of the day we did gain a couple points, only on the 30th position”, he said. A tire out of the pit box was costly for pole-sitter Carl Edwards. “I’m proud of my guys for a really fast race vehicle and it was another insane Watkins Glen day.” commented Brad Keselowski.

Paul Menard finished second, followed by Kyle Larson, Daniel Suarez, Trevor Bayne and points leader Elliott Sadler. If his No. 11 team can continue to build the momentum in upcoming races at Bristol Motor Speedway and Michigan International Speedway, they could join teammates Busch, Edwards and Kenseth as championship threats when the Chase arrives in September. The race will be presented live on NBCSN at 8:00 PM EDT.