Kyle Busch Sweeps Dramatic Fontana Weekend; Denny Hamlin Airlifted
So many words can be used to describe this weekend of NASCAR racing at Auto Club Speedway. Drama is the best way to put it really, especially for today’s Auto Club 400. One driver though, is key to it all…Joey Logano.
Before we get into the many issues of Logano, let’s talk about the impressive weekend Kyle Busch had. He won yesterday, and then completed the sweep by winning today’s Auto Club 400. Busch led 125 laps, and was sitting behind on the final lap but managed to find a way to victory lane.
[Related: Auto Club 400 Photo Gallery]
On the final lap, Logano collided with Denny Hamlin (who doesn’t get along to well with his former teammate). Logano had been bumping and racing Hamlin hard in the previous laps, but Hamlin had enough. Coming to the checkered flag Logano came up and bumped Hamlin, with the momentum, Logano naturally attempted to make the pass. However, he didn’t have the room and clipped the nose of Hamlin and sent himself into the outside wall. Hamlin slid down and took a vicious hit in the inside wall.
Hamlin went to the infield care center, but would be airlifted to a local hospital for further evaluations. His girlfriend, Jordan Fish, tweeted that he is okay and alert, but having back issues.
For the rest of the drivers, nobody knew Dale Earnhardt Jr. ended up finishing second today. Rounding out the top-10 is: Logano, Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Paul Menard, Kasey Kahne, and Ryan Newman.
Going back to Logano…After the completion of the race, he was confronted by Tony Stewart. Stewart wasn’t thrilled about Logano’s racing on a restart that saw Logano get loose and come down on top of Stewart. Stewart gave many words towards Logano in his post race interview, that included very colorful comments.
"“He has that right, he has the choice to do that,” Stewart said in the post race interview. “If he ever turns down across in front of me again, I don’t care what lap it is, he won’t make it through the other end of it. I’m tired of these guys doing that stuff. Especially out of a kid that’s been griping about everybody else and then he does that the next week. He sent Denny to the hospital and screwed our day up. He’s talked the talk, but he hasn’t walked the walk yet. He’s always got his crew guys walking the walk for him.”"
The point standings after today’s race in Fontana are as follows: 1. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 2. Brad Keselowski (-12), 3. Jimmie Johnson (-16), 4. Carl Edwards (-35), and 5. Greg Biffle (-35).
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