Denny Hamlin held off Chase Elliott on the final restart and went on to win the Hollywood Casino 400 in NASCAR Overtime on Sunday at Kansas Speedway. But for Elliott, the second-place finish was enough for him to advance into the Round of 8 as the last car into the field. That left Brad Keselowski as the first driver on the outside looking in as the 2012 champion was eliminated from the NASCAR Playoffs after his 19th-place finish.
Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch came home in third place with brother Kurt Busch in fourth and William Byron in fifth. Martin Truex Jr. was sixth, followed by Erik Jones in seventh, Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson to round out the top 10.
Hamlin, Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Harvick, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson and Elliott advanced to the Round of 8 that begins next Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.
The four drivers eliminated from the NASCAR Playoffs after Kansas were Clint Bowyer, Alex Bowman, William Byron and Brad Keselowski. Of the final eight drivers, four are former Monster Energy Series champions.
THE FRATERNAL ORDER OF THE GO FAST
Not a single player this week used their Denny Hamlin pick at Kansas. Therefore, this weekly award will go back on the shelf awaiting a lucky winner next week at Martinsville.
THE MOVERS AND THE SHAKERS
We have a trio who picked a good time to pull out their Chase Elliott card this segment. Granted Elliott didn’t win the race, but he scored another one of his famed runner-up race finishes, along with a few stage points to award his followers, totaling 50 points. Those Chase rooters include Snoopy Dawn, Carlton The Doorman, as well as Linda R. The Lemonade Lefty.
Following that lucky trio is a twosome consisting of Jim, aka Chiefy, and Kathy The Church Forecloser. Both Chiefy and The Church Forecloser were beating the drum for Sliced Bread today. Despite having some bad luck that included a 175 MPH spin through the infield grass late in the race, she did add some stage points, and Joey Logano delivered 34 points to both Chiefy and The Church Forecloser!
Meanwhile, Edie The Las Vegas Super Star was supporting the Las Vegas native driver formally known as The Outlaw this week. The Vegas Super Star raked in 33 points from Kurt Busch’s 4th place finish.
Doing almost as good this week was Bernie The Bay Area Bandit. The Bandit was secretly stalking that Jones Boy at Kansas, you know kind of like she does to Jac Haudenschild at Chico! I digress, but nonetheless ,Erik Jones parked a cool 32 points into The Bandit’s bucket this week.
Rounding out the top five scorers this week is another mismatched duo of Linda B. The Cookie Mom and Dan The Numbers Cruncher. Both players were cheering on the Kansas native, Clint Bowyer this week. Although Bowyer did not win the race he did deposit 31 points into their 3rd segment buckets!
It is quite interesting that, even this late into the segment, there was a fair amount of shuffling going on this week. Twelve of the sixteen players swapped zip codes this week. Only Snoopy, Your Most Humble Sheriff, The Cookie Mom, and Rudy still occupy the same place after the checkered flag flew.
The single biggest mover this week is David The Mudslinging Throttle Jockey who dropped like a hot potato this week. The Mudslinger fell eight (8) spots, and out of the money, to now reside 13th position!
Carlton The Doorman, on the other hand, ascended very nicely by climbing up the totem pole four (4) places to sit in 7th place.
There is a quartet that moved two (2) positions this week. That foursome consists of Edie The Las Vegas Super Star, Jim, aka Chiefy, Kathy The Church Forecloser, and Lonna The Quilt Angel. The Super Star, Chiefy, and The Forecloser all stepped up their game and moved up two places to rest in 6th, 11, and 12th, respectively. While The Quilt Angel dropped down to 14th place this week.
The remaining six players, one third of the fantasy league, moved up or down one position.
STRAIGHT FROM THE CRAPPER
In spite of having a reasonably decent race weekend in his midget, David The Mudslinging Throttle Jockey could only must up one single (1) solitary point this weekend. We all know that if you can only add one microscopic point to your weekly tally, you are most like going to awarded The Crappiest Pick of The Week. So The Mudslinger is this week’s Crappiest Pick of The Week winner!
Once again Carole, aka Rudy, is honkered down quite comfortably in The Outhouse! With just four races left, and a 40 point cushion, it is beginning to appear that Rudy has an excellent chance of remaining in The Outhouse for the rest of this segment!
Check out the results from the Hollywood Casino 400.
Now that there is just one more round in The Playoffs (the Round of Eight) before the big dance at Homestead, there are now eight players who are “runnin’down a dream”!
Eight drivers, four races, one championship! Who will be the last man standing?
TIL NEXT TIME, PULL YOUR BELTS TIGHT AND LETS GO RACIN’!