Danny Hamel defeated Mad Debenedeto by foot to win a race marathon in Tal Ladega that had a ridiculously ridiculous finish.
With the win, Hamelin is locked in the third round of the playoffs. To avoid Byrium Byron’s car, his winning pass came as Byron was circling around. Byron rescued the car and it continued while Hamelin beat Matt Debenedetto and Byron to the finish line.
Hamelin went below the yellow line when he went to the apron. It is especially against the rules of NASCAR. But Nascar ruled he was avoiding Byron’s car – and, yes, hacked the job to prevent Byron from crashing – and gave Hamelin his seventh win of the season in his race that would run 12 times longer than scheduled.
Debenedetto finished his second place after the race, as he forced Byron to the bottom of the yellow line before Hamelin made the winning move below the yellow line. The NASCAR’s yellow line only exists on Daytona and Talladega and the permitting agency says drivers cannot block other drivers below the line and pass themselves below that line.
If you are not confused, we will be surprised. The easiest thing NASCAR can do is just get rid of the yellow line. It causes more difficulties than solved problems.
Hamelin was 6th in the final lap
Hamelin finished sixth in the final lap. Here’s how he did it.
Chris Boucher led Debenedetto to the white flag. Byron went with Boucher and bridged the gap between Boucher and Debenedetto.
Hamelin then fell behind Byron as the rest of the field had a gap of the top six players. Debenedeto led Eric Jones and the rest of the field down the backstretch.
The top two cars separated from each other – remember, the draft speed was exactly the same – and this time Hamelin was fifth. The backstretch crashed as the top five cars entered three turns but NASCAR did not take precautions.
Byron pushed Buscher to a pass on Jones for a second and Jones blocked. That hurdle boosted Buscher and Byron and also slowed Debdenetto through the draft. Hemlin then opened a hole to dive inwards.
The top four cars were joking for positions in three and four turns, when Debenedetto blocked Byron, Hamelin jumped on the apron, and Byron’s car almost ran out. Hamelin stopped on the gas and went back on track as he exited the fourth turn.
At the time it was a tug-of-war to finish as Brad Kaselowski was trailing behind the leaders. Hamley used the side-draft in the triangle oval to go ahead of both Byron and Debdenetto and win.
NBC finished with cable
On Sunday when NBC moved the race from its broadcast network to NBC Sports Network, NASCAR received a dose of sports packing order order reality.
The race was pushed to NBCSN, which was at 6:05 p.m., 25 minutes ahead of NBC Nightly News and in the window for local news broadcasts across the country. As you know, NFL games and other sporting events regularly go to local broadcast news windows and sometimes cancel those broadcasts altogether.
That did not happen on Sunday. Viewers across the country were sent on local news broadcasts as one of the most climactic races of NASCAR’s postseason was sent over to the end cable.
It’s hard to find a parallel modern broadcast decision for any big game. Any other big stick and ball game will remain on their schedule network until the end of the postseason games. Or, at least, until the national news was really about to begin.
Is NASCAR and a toe racing a perfect sport now? That is a reasonable question to ask. NASCAR regularly draws more than 2 million viewers but is exacerbated by the NFL every fall. It is, at this point, a distinctive series that has declined since the recession of its spectators in the late 2000s.
That’s unfortunate for the series. NASCAR is making a lot of efforts to get back to where there is no target to be reached. And getting one of the most dramatic races of the season pushed the cable as it went on too long not a sign that NASCAR is on its way back to the mainstream.
The race took forever
The official time for Sunday’s race was four hours and five minutes and did not include the two red flags that crashed.
The 200-lap race had 13 precautions for 54 laps. Four of those warnings were for crashes involving five cars or more. And there were cars that were involved in multiple wrecks. Oh, the race couldn’t even complete a bend before caution.
The horrific crash happened when Kurt hit Bush, hit the wall in the head and then went into the air and in the second stage went to the top of Clint Bauer’s car. Bush had a no-pass fee pass during Sunday’s race as he won to advance to the third round a week ago in Las Vegas so the wreck did not hurt his playoff chances. And thankfully he got out of his car and walked away from the crash victim.
His brother Kyle was part of multiple caution. Kyle Bush died on the 27th after arriving in his car or due to four different precautions.
It was a spot behind Joy Logan, who was getting two fines for pushing drivers under the yellow line.
Pre-row playoff picture
Hamelin and Kurt Bush could do anything at Rowal next week and they are in the third round of the playoffs. So now Kevin Harwick, the driver, is now 68 points ahead of ninth-ranked Austin Dillon. It is also locked.
Everyone else will have to earn it in the final race of the second round. And there is a proper distance from the eighth to the ninth. Logano is currently in the final of the third round and is 21 points ahead of ninth seed Austin Dillon and Kyle Bush.
Dillon and Bush could advance to the third round if their driver or two in front have trouble and they have to finish. Not the same for Clint Boyer and Eric Almirola. While both drivers can enter the third round based on points, they need a win at Charlotte to advance to the next round.
Here are the standings to get into the final race of the second round. Remember, a driver can get a maximum of 60 points in a race.
1. Danny Hamelin (win over Talladega)
2. Kurt Bush (wins in Las Vegas)
3. Kevin Harwick, 3,121
4. Brad Kaselowski, 3,094
5. Martin Trux Jr., 3.085
6. Chase Elliott, 3,080
7. Alex Bowman, 3,075
8. Jaya logo, 3,074
9. in Stin Dillon, 3,053
10. Kyle Bush, 3,053
11. Clint Boyer, 3,036
12. Eric Almirola, 3,026
Race results
1. Danny Hamlin
2. Eric Jones
3. Tie Dillon
4. William Byron
5. Ryan Newman
6. Chris Boucher
7. Tyler Reddick
8. John Hunter Namecheck
9. Brennan Pool
10. Ryan Press
11. Justin Haley
12. in Stein Dillon
13. Quinn Huff
14. Alex Bowman
15. Timmy Hill
16. Matt Kenseth
17. Joy Gas
18. Brad Kaselowski
19. Cody Ware
20. Kevin Harwick
21. Matt Debenedetto
22. Chase Elliott
23. Martin Trux Jr..
24. Bubba lace lace
25. Ryan Blaney
26. Joy logo
27. Kyle Bush
28. Corey Lajoi
29. Jimmy Johnson
30. James Davison
31. Call Custer
32. Kurt Bush
33. Clint Bowyer
34. Daniel Suarez
35. Brendan Gaugan
36. Michael McDowell
37. Eric Almirola
38. Ricky Steinhouse Jr..
39. Christopher Bell