Geico 400: Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon among major losers in the first race
It was a race to forget for some Chase drivers as 4 drivers who were still in the hunt for the Sprint Cup Championship failed to make it even to the top 20 in the Geico 400 at the Chicagoland Speedway.
Denny Hamlin probably suffered the most, with a 31st place finish putting him right down to number 12, 41 points behind overall leader, Kevin Harvick and with very little hope of having a serious title challenge.
Hamlin started the race in 27th place but soon felt vibration in his car and had to pit early. After the move, he fell behind in the race. It got worse for the 30-year-old American as he made contact with Greg Biffle’s car that cut down his left front tyre.
Hamlin was gutted after the race and he refused to talk to media after the race. His crew chief, Mike Ford was also disappointed with the overall performance by the team, but he said that they will still give their best as they don’t really have a choice.
Jeff Gordon was another major casualty as he finished 24th in the race to leave himself in 11th spot, 25 points behind Harvick. Gordon had done well for himself, having dragged himself from 23rd to 14th spot, in a car which was not performing too well for him. As was the story of the race for most racers, his car ran out of fuel near the final stages and he watched as all his hard work during the race undone.
Gordon said that the car was not causing too much problems but the team needed to do better in qualifying, if it was to pose a stronger challenge in the upcoming races.
Gordon said, "We actually got the car halfway decent there at the end. But then it came down to saving fuel, and we obviously didn't save enough fuel."
Matt Kenseth finds himself 10th in the race for the Sprint Cup Championship after finishing 21st in the race, having started from pole position.
Kenseth battled throughout the race for pole position and led 46 laps of the race. He too lacked the fuel to go all the way and got help in turns 3 and 4 of the final lap from J.J Yeley, who was later penalised by NASCAR as race rules dictate that drivers cannot help each other in the final lap.
Kyle Busch wished the rain had never stopped as he finished in 22nd place, a result which drops him from 1st place in the overall points table to 9th. He too faced the same fate as the rest, after the fuel mileage calculation failed, he fell short by a lap after having led the race at one point.
These four drivers will now be looking to put their disappointments behind them and work hard for the next race at New Hampshire to put their title drive back on track.
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