By John Schutt
NASCAR Monster Energy series, Hollywood Casino 400, Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kan., Sunday, Oct. 20.
Denny Hamlin took over control late in stage two, led 153 laps, and won the race. In second place was Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch was in third, Ryan Blaney in fourth, and Martin Truex, Jr. in fifth.
Kyle Larson and Eric Jones led most of stage one. Joey Logano pulled past Chase Elliott to take the first stage victory.
In the second stage, Truex, Jr. passed Daniel Suarez and later Truex, Jr.’s teammate, Hamlin, took over the lead to win stage two.
The action took place during stage three. Hamlin was in the lead over Kyle Busch for most of the stage.
Blaney had a tire blowout with 12 laps to go, tapped the wall, and parts of the exterior came off of the car. Under caution, Keselowski was running in the middle of the pack.
With four laps to go there was a wreck when the left rear wheel came off from the car of Bubba Wallace. Wallace spun out and collided with Matt Tiff.
A green White Checker finish was set up and at the restart and another accident occurred, involving Daniel Hemric and Daniel Suarez.
In double overtime, Hamlin won by holding off a hard-charging Elliott.
It was Hamlin’s fifth victory this year.
Kevin Harvick did not pass pre-race inspection three times and was not allowed in the qualifying race. He had to start dead last, and finished in ninth place.
Brad Keselowski finished in 19th place and is out of the playoffs. The field is down to eight drivers. Through Sunday, Kyle Busch led the Monster Energy points with 4046 and was followed by Truex, Jr. and Hamlin.
NASCAR Monster Energy series, 1000Bulbs.com 500, Talladaga International Speedway, Talladaga, Ala., October 13-14.
The competitive race was run at more than 200 miles per hour and it all came down to 1/7000 of a second when Ryan Blaney won just ahead of senior Rousch driver, Ryan Newman. In third place was Hamlin, Arick Almirilo in fourth, and Mike McDowell in fifth.
William Byron, in the 24 car, formerly driven by Jeff Gordon, pulled off the victory in stage one.
Stage two was delayed until Monday due to rain. During the warm up laps of stage two, Keselowski’s car would not start. After being pushed for almost two miles, his car started.
Stage two ended under caution with Clint Bowyer taking the victory over Keselowski.
With 36 laps to go in stage three, Bowyer’s car had a tire blowout and spunout and Kyle Busch took the lead for first time.
A big wreck occurred with 24 laps to go, when the hood of Logano’s car popped up against the windshield and five cars were damaged in the chaos.
The race was red-flagged for safety and to clean up the mess. When race resumed Newman came from fourth place only to lose by one-foot to Blaney.