An ambulance blocking the entrance to pit road when it was open for drivers cost Clint Bower his shot at a win and nearly doomed Matt Kenseth.
RICHMOND, Va. — The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series wrapped up its regular season with a bang even if the final playoff berths went as expected.
Chase Elliott, Matt Kenseth and Jamie McMurray entered the night as the top three winless drivers with three postseason slots remaining. And by the end of Saturday night’s showdown at Richmond Raceway, it was Elliott, Kenseth and McMurray officially booking their spots, even as Joey Logano, who faced a must-win scenario, came close to pulling off a miracle in overtime.
“We came into the weekend saying second would be a failure and we finished second, so one spot short, ” said Logano, who won at Richmond in April, then saw NASCAR rule the victory encumbered after his No. 22 Ford failed post-race inspection. He couldn’ t use the win to secure a playoff berth. “It hurts, it stinks.”
More: Kyle Larson wins Richmond; Matt Kenseth, Chase Elliott and Jamie McMurray take final three playoff slots
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Kyle Larson won the Federated Auto Parts 400 in overtime after overtaking the dominant car of Martin Truex Jr. on the final restart after winning the race off pit road. Larson took the checkered flag under caution as Denny Hamlin spun Truex while attempting to pass him.
“I was surprised at how good our car was tonight, ” said Larson, who earned his fourth victory of the season and will enter the playoffs as the No. 2 seed behind Truex, the regular-season champion. “We weren’ t as good as the No. 78 (Truex) which nobody really is at any race track. We kept our heads in it. And our pit crew was, oh my gosh, they were so spectacular all night.”
Unlike a smiling Larson, Truex, who led a race-high 198 laps, was fuming immediately after the race over the caution that cost him his lead and led to overtime.
“They threw a caution for a guy (Derrike Cope) that shouldn’ t even be out there. He was what, like 15 laps down? It’s ridiculous, ” Truex said. “I’ m madder about the caution than Denny getting into us. I know he didn’ t do it on purpose.”
Hamlin expressed regret for the part he played in costing Truex his fifth win of the season.
“We both drove in really, really deep. When I got on the brakes, the splitter slammed down on the ground and shot me up the track into him, ” Hamlin said. “It’s unfortunate. I didn’ t want to get into him. He’s a great teammate of ours.”
But the real head-scratcher was what occurred following an earlier caution in the final stage when Danica Patrick spun after Austin Dillon made contact with her rear tire. As cars began to line up to enter pit road, a safety vehicle stopped on the apron near the entrance, forcing cars to swerve or slam on their brakes to avoid it. But some drivers were not that lucky.
Matt Kenseth couldn’ t slow down fast enough and plowed into the back of Clint Bowyer, destroying the front of Kenseth’s car and forcing him to retire from the race. Bowyer was able to continue but any hopes he had of winning his way into the playoffs were dashed.
“We had a situation where a directive was given from the tower and it wasn’ t followed, and we’ ll do our due diligence to figure out why the directive wasn’ t followed and to make sure we’ re prepared to never make that mistake again, ” said NASCAR Vice President of Competition Scott Miller. “The vehicle didn’ t stop when he was told to.
“We probably should have closed pit road. Those calls are very dynamic and they happen very quickly. It’s the race director in charge of pit road open and close, and it’s track services and safety crews in charge of the other, and we didn’ t sync up tonight. We will make sure we don’ t let that happen again.”
Kenseth was fortunate that Richmond did not produce a new winner that would have knocked the Joe Gibbs Racing driver out of the playoffs in his final season with the team. Instead he was forced to watch the remainder of the race and keep his fingers crossed and then re-emerge postrace for a group photo with the playoff field.
NASCAR officials admitted that they had not pondered any contingency plans for Kenseth and wouldn’ t contemplate a decision, that in the end, they were fortunate enough not to have to make.
Follow Horrow on Twitter @EllenJHorrow
