Hamlin Wins at Kansas, Elliott Transfers to Round of 8

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Denny Hamlin won the Hollywood Casino 400 from Kansas Speedway on Sunday afternoon in the finale for the Round of 12 of the Playoffs.

Hamlin had a dominant car during the second half of Sunday’s race, and led a race-high 153 laps.  Hamlin held off challenges from Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch in the closing laps after multiple cautions sent the race into overtime.

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Hamlin was already locked into the next round of the Playoffs on points, but he said he was glad to pick up another win on the year.

“That car was awesome…to dominate that whole second half was great,” Hamlin said.  “We’ve been running really good, just cannot wait to get to Martinsville.”

Hamlin now heads to Martinsville Speedway next weekend, where he has had strong runs in the past.  A win next weekend would send Hamlin to the Championship Four at Homestead to battle for his first career Cup Series Championship.

Hamlin said he is taking everything one week at a time.

“It’s step-by-step, week-by-week,” Hamlin said.  “I’m not getting too far ahead of ourselves.  We concentrate every week as if it’s the most important one, and this win kind of shows that.”

Elliott came into the race in a must-win scenario to keep his Playoff hopes alive, and he was able to finish second and make it into the next round. 

Elliott said the strong finish was a testament to his team’s attitude as they struggled early in the race.

“We were really struggling there at one point in the race, and you have to stay fighting in these things,” Elliott said.  “Excited that we’ll get to fight another race.”

Brad Keselowski was on the losing end of the Playoff race, and missed the next round of the Playoffs by three points after struggling on the final restart.

Keselowski said he wasn’t able to make the moves he needed to in the closing laps.

“Couldn’t get nothing to go for me on the restart,” Keselowski said.  “I got sandwiched and somebody went three-wide…just all bad and I didn’t do a good enough job.”

Keselowski was joined by William Byron, Alex Bowman and Clint Bowyer as the four drivers eliminated from the Playoffs.

Unofficial results:

1. Denny Hamlin

2. Chase Elliott

3. Kyle Busch

4. Kurt Busch

5. William Byron

6. Martin Truex Jr.

7. Erik Jones

8. Clint Bowyer

9. Kevin Harvick

10. Jimmie Johnson

11. Alex Bowman

12. Ryan Preece

13. Chris Buescher

14. Kyle Larson

15. Matt DiBenedetto

16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

17. Joey Logano

18. Paul Menard

19. Brad Keselowski

20. Austin Dillon

21. Ryan Blaney

22. Ty Dillon

23. Aric Almirola

24. Michael McDowell

25. Matt Tifft

26. David Ragan

27. Ross Chastain

28. Corey LaJoie

29. Parker Kligerman

30. JJ Yeley

31. Daniel Hemric

32. Daniel Suarez

33. Reed Sorenson

34. Garrett Smithley

35. Bubba Wallace

36. Josh Bilicki

37. Landon Cassill

38. Joey Gase

39. Timmy Hill

40. Ryan Newman

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images