Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin scored the team’s 400th Cup Series victory in Kansas on Sunday.
Hamlin took victory in what was a dramatic race which saw Noah Gragson and and Ross Chastain involved in fist fight.
Hamlin who started the race from eighth place beat Kyle Larson for the win and speaking following the action he said:
Yeah, I got position on him there, tried to side-draft him and clipped his left rear. “But I’m glad he was able to at least finish.
“Credit to my FedEx team, though. Four hundred wins for Joe Gibbs Racing (203 in the NASCAR Cup Series, 197 in the Xfinity Series)—it’s such a great accomplishment for them.”
Larson led seven times for a race-high 85 laps that included a stretch of 46 straight before Hamlin grabbed the win on Lap 267.
Larson of Hendrick Motorsports stated:
“I haven’t seen a replay, “but obviously, he was side-drafting really aggressively, like he would. He was touching me, it felt like, and it had me really out of control. I we wish we could…”
As Larson uttered those words, his attention turned to a confrontation between fifth-place finisher Ross Chastain and Noah Gragson, who swapped sheet metal at least twice during the race. The drivers took a couple of swings at each other before being restrained.
Ross Chastain commented saying:
“I got tight off of (Turn) 4, for sure. “Noah and I have a very similar attitude on the racetrack. We train together, we prepare together, and we know every little thing about each other.
“Yeah, I definitely crowded him up off of 4, and he took a swipe at us in 3, and came down and grabbed ahold of me (after the race). A very big man once told me we have a no-push policy here at Trackhouse (Racing).”
1. (8) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 267.
2. (2) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 267.
3. (1) William Byron, Chevrolet, 267.
4. (17) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 267.
5. (3) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 267.
6. (6) Joey Logano, Ford, 267.
7. (21) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 267.
8. (4) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 267.
9. (5) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 267.
10. (11) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 267.
11. (13) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 267.
12. (33) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 267.
13. (18) Aric Almirola, Ford, 267.
14. (27) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 267.
15. (9) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 267.
16. (10) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 267.
17. (14) Chris Buescher, Ford, 267.
18. (30) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 267.
19. (20) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 267.
20. (24) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 267.
21. (19) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 267.
22. (26) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 267.
23. (35) JJ Yeley(i), Ford, 266.
24. (32) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 266.
25. (29) Josh Berry(i), Chevrolet, 266.
26. (23) Michael McDowell, Ford, 266.
27. (28) Ryan Preece, Ford, 266.
28. (34) Brennan Poole(i), Ford, 264.
29. (22) Noah Gragson #, Chevrolet, 262.
30. (25) Harrison Burton, Ford, 261.
31. (15) Austin Cindric, Ford, 260.
32. (31) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 260.
33. (36) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 260.
34. (7) Ty Gibbs #, Toyota, Accident, 176.
35. (16) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, Accident, 162.
36. (12) Christopher Bell, Toyota, Accident, 157