There were some post-race fireworks on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway at the conclusion of the First Data 500. The two drivers involved were Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin that sent the race into a NASCAR Overtime finish.
Coming to the white flag, Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin were battling for the win heading into turn three. Hamlin made contact with race leader Chase Elliott that sent him around into the outside wall. Hamlin, from Virginia, resumed with the race lead as the caution came out.
Elliott, one of eight drivers racing for a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship, continued and finished 27th on the leaderboard. However, when the First Data 500 race ended, both drivers traded some paint and stopped on the backstretch to share their displeasures with one another. Neither driver threw a punch as they talked the incident out with NASCAR officials standing near.
What Elliott observed from his perspective:
“Yeah, just like I said on TV, I got punted from behind and wrecked in Turn 3 leading the race. I don’t know what his problem was,” said. “It was unnecessary I hadn’t raced him dirty all-day long. There was no reason for that and he comes over and talks to me a second ago and tells me he had somebody pushing him into Turn 3. I thought that was funny because there was nobody within two car lengths of him into Turn 3 behind myself. I don’t know what the deal was, but it is so disappointing. We had the best car I’ve ever had here at Martinsville. And had an opportunity to go straight to Homestead and because of him we don’t.”
From Hamlin’s perspective:
“I got into the back of him (Chase Elliott) and he spun out. Trying to get a race win, everyone wrecked everybody there at the end,” said Hamlin after the race. “It was complete bullsh– chaos. I got in the back of him and he spun out. Somebody got into the back of me and I wrecked too. It was just a mess at the end. I mean, you know everybody is doing the exact same thing. I hate it for his team, I understand they had a win for a long time coming, but this is a ticket to Homestead. Not sure you know – I’m not sitting here saying I wrecked him on purpose and I tried to move him out of the way and spun out.”
Hamlin, a NASCAR Playoff driver who led the field for seven circuits at Martinsville, left his home track with a seventh-place finish.
Hamlin’s teammate Kyle Busch ended the night victorious at Martinsville Speedway. Busch, a driver from Las Vegas and 2015 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion, scored his fifth win of the year and locks himself into the Championship Four at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
About Me: Brett has been following the sport of NASCAR since the beginning of the 2006 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Since Brett was 13, he has had a passion of chasing a job in sports that not many get the opportunity of doing. He has been in the NASCAR media since the middle of the 2010 season. Since then, he has been a part of many racing podcast shows to improve his talents. He has written for racingonfuel.com and theracingwheel.com. Currently, Brett writes for motorsportsnat.com and TracksideChatter.com. You can find him on twitter @NASCAR_Brett.
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