By John Schutt
NASCAR Monster Energy Series, Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, Tenn., Sunday, Aug. 17.
It was not clean and nice, but Denny Hamlin overcame issues of early contact and defeated Matt DiBenedetto in the last 11 laps of the race for the victory. Following Hamlin and DiBenedetto in first and second were Brad Keselowski in third, Kyle Busch in fourth, and Chase Elliott in fifth places.
The pole positions were won by Kyle Larson and Hamlin. Hamlin took the early lead.
Larson won stage one of the race. Hamlin made contact with Jimmie Johnson and finished stage one two laps behind.
Alex Bowman lost a tire and had to slow down which caused Joey Logano to slam into the back of Bowman’s car.
Kurt Busch won the second stage.
David Blaney had a mechanical problem which caused the big wreck. Involved, but not limited to, were Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Johnson, David Regan, and Ryan Blaney.
DiBenedetto led the most laps of the race at 93 and looked as if he were going to have a surprising upset victory. However, Joe Gibbs Toyota driver Hamlin passed DiBenedetto at the end of the last stage to take his fourth victory of the season.
Clint Bowyer finished in seventh place and is out of the top 16 positions for the playoffs.
NASCAR Monster Energy Series, Consumers Energy 400, Michigan International Speedway, Irish Hills, Mich., Sunday, Aug. 11.
The Michigan International Speedway must be one of Kevin Harvick’s favorite tracks because he won here last year and passed fellow Ford driver Logano to win again with 10 laps to go. Following Harvick was Hamlin in second, Larson in third, Martin Truex, Jr. in fourth, and Daniel Suárez in fifth.
Keselowski and Harvick shared the pole honors and Keselowski led the most laps of the race.
Truex, Jr. passed teammate Hamlin to win the first stage.
In stage two Keselowski was in the lead and his right rear tire blew out and he spun out.
Kyle Busch won the second stage over teammate Truex, Jr..
With 25 laps to go the Fords of Logano and Harvick were in first and second places. But, Harvick moved ahead to stay and take the victory.