photo credit: Instagram

Denny Hamlin started the 2016 Sprint Cup Series season in victory lane at the Daytona 500 where he beat Martin Truex Jr. by only 0.002 of a second in a thrilling finish. Surprisingly, Hamlin hadn’t visited victory lane since the season opener. Although the team that he drives for, Joe Gibbs Racing, has pretty much dominated the 2016 Sprint Cup Series season with his teammates recording multiple victories, Hamlin and his #11 FedEx crew haven’t had the summer that they had been hoping for. The highlight of the summer for Hamlin was when he had a fierce battle with Tony Stewart for the win at the Sonoma Raceway June 26. Tony Stewart was able to muscle his way past Hamlin on the final turn for the victory.

But on Sunday, it was Denny Hamlin who would find himself in the lead with 7 laps remaining. Hamlin held off a very determined Martin Truex Jr. and the always aggressive Brad Keselowski to secure his first ever win at Watkins Glen International. This was Hamlin’s first ever win on a road course in his 32nd road course start.

With his second victory of the season, Denny Hamlin jumps up into fourth position in the Sprint Cup Series points standings.

Below are highlights and turn by turn action from the Cheez-It 355 at Watkins Glen International.
Race recapped by Last Lap Insider.

Green flag – Carl Edwards leads the field into Turn 1 with Kyle Larson 2nd. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch make slight contact with eachother coming out of the S’s.

Lap 5/90 – Joey Logano gets loose in the bus stop almost spinning out his car. Austin Dillon get a bump from Jeff Gordon and spins out in the bus stop. Gordon has significant damage to his front end.

Lap 10/90 – Kyle Larson has fallen back to the 5th position with a tight racecar. Edwards continues to lead with Kenseth and Allmendinger close behind.

Lap 13/90 – The first caution comes out for debris. Jeff Gordon comes down pit road in order for his team to make repairs to the front end of his Axalta Chevrolet.
A few drivers towards the back of the field took this opportunity to make their first pit stops. Kasey Kahne and Aric Almirola got a penalty for their pit crews being over the wall too soon and Gordon also had to serve a penalty for speeding on pit road.

Lap 16/90 – Carl Edwards takes off on the restart as Allmendinger attempts to pass Kenseth for the 2nd spot.

Lap 23/90 – Green flag pit stops have begun with Johnson getting a penalty for speeding on pit road.

Lap 27/90 – Edwards has led every lap so far but is now making his pit stop along with Kyle Busch. Martin Truex Jr. is now the new race leader. AJ Allmendinger gets caught speeding on pit road. Carl Edwards gets a penalty for a uncontrolled tire.

Lap 35/90 – Joey Logano was the leader but is now making his pit stop. Logano also gets snagged for speeding on pit road. Danica Patrick is the new leader. She is on an alternate pit strategy.

Lap 44/90 – Ryan Blaney cuts through the bus stop slicing through the grass. Blaney is running 34th.

Lap 46/90 – Kyle Busch passes Danica Patrick for the lead.

Lap 48/90 – The second caution has come out for a uncontrolled tire rolling down pit road.

38 laps to go – Exiting the carousel, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. slid way wide causing his #17 Ford to spin out. Stenhouse Jr. flies across the racetrack hitting the inside wall and bouncing back onto the racing surface where he was then hit again by Jimmie Johnson. Greg Biffle and Austin Dillon were trying to avoid the accident when do they both made contact with each other. All four cars involved in the accident have significant damage and are taking their cars to the garage.
After a 20 minute red flag, the race would resume under caution.

34 laps to go – Entering the carousel, David Ragan gets loose spinning out collecting Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer and Alex Kennedy. Bowyer is the one that sustained the most damage with Edwards having just a little dent to his front bumper.

32 laps to go – On the restart, Brad Keselowski is able to clear Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin to keep the lead exiting Turn 1. Keselowski pulls away through the S’s. Harvick comes in for his last pit stop of the day.

29 laps to go – Joey Logano has a little bit of damage to his splitter and nose. His crew chief doesn’t think it will be a problem. Logano got that damage on the restart making contact with Casey Mears.

The top 10 – 2, 11, 18, 14, 27, 13, 22, 78, 47, 88.

25 laps to go – Caution has come out for debris in the bus stop. Landon Cassill mowed the grass in the bus stop on the previous lap causing grass and dirt to scatter over the racetrack.
All of the drivers in the top five are in fuel conservation mode.

24 laps to go – Brad Keselowski again holds the lead on the restart. Kyle Busch has taken 2nd away from Denny Hamlin.

15 laps to go – Kyle Busch is trying to chase down Brad Keselowski for the lead while Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. battle for 3rd.

The top 20 – 2, 18, 11, 78, 22, 14, 47, 42, 27, 13, 6, 1, 41, 20, 24, 19, 88, 31, 21, 5.

14 laps to go – The sixth caution comes out for Alex Kennedy blowing up on the frontstretch and coming to a stop entering Turn 1. This caution definitely helps the leaders that are trying to save as much fuel as possible just incase the race goes into overtime.

12 laps to go – Under caution, AJ Allmendinger was trying to save fuel and ended up getting passed by Kyle Larson.

The rule is, you must maintain pace car speed under caution. If you don’t maintain a proper speed and cars pass you then you will lose those positions.

10 laps to go – On the restart, both Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch slide too deep in Turn 1 losing positions to Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano. Ryan Newman, towards the back of the field, spins out collecting Matt Dibenedetto. Brad Keselowski was complaining that there was so much oil dry in Turn 1. That’s why he and Kyle Busch slid wide.

Denny Hamlin is now the leader with Brad Keselowski 2nd, Joey Logano 3rd, Martin Truex Jr. 4th, and Kyle Busch 5th. AJ Allmendinger is also in contention running 6th.

7 laps to go – On the restart, Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski again slide wide into Turn 1.

The new top 5 is 11, 22, 78, 42, and 47.

Paul Menard blasts through the bus stop causing a big cloud of dust. With the drivers behind him not being able to see where they are going, a chain reaction starts collecting Kevin Harvick, David Ragan, Matt Dibenedetto and Chris Buescher.

The race has been red flagged for a second time.

4 laps to go – Clean restart. Denny Hamlin pulls away exiting Turn 1 as Martin Truex Jr. passes Joey Logano for 2nd. Brad Keselowski also passes Joey Logano for the 3rd position. A few turns later, Joey Logano re-passes Brad Keselowski for 3rd.

Kyle Busch swings wide through the carousel losing three positions. Keselowski is now back in front of Logano. Coming to one lap to go.

Final lap – Martin Truex Jr. is doing everything he can to catch the 11.

Checkered Flag – Denny Hamlin is able to hold off Martin Truex Jr. and Brad Keselowski to win the Cheez-It 355 at Watkins Glen.

Brad Keselowski attempted to pass Martin Truex Jr. on the final turn but ended up making contact with the #78’s bumper causing Truex Jr. to spin out and hit the wall.

Also, AJ Allmendinger got into Kyle Larson’s bumper on the final turn causing the #42 to spin out and clobber the inside wall destroying the Target Chevrolet.

Even though Martin Truex Jr. was spun out on the last turn, he was able to keep his foot in the gas and finish in the 8th position.

Meanwhile, Kyle Larson was not able to keep going as his car sat idle entering pit road. Kyle Larson was in position to finish 4th but sadly finished 29th.

Full Cheez-It 355 at Watkins Glen Results:

1. Denny Hamlin
2. Joey Logano
3. Brad Keselowski
4. AJ Allmendinger
5. Tony Stewart
6. Kyle Busch
7. Jamie McMurray
8. Martin Truex Jr.
9. Trevor Bayne
10. Matt Kenseth – 600th career start.
11. Kurt Busch
12. Casey Mears
13. Chase Elliott
14. Jeff Gordon – 800th career start.
15. Ryan Newman
16. Carl Edwards
17. Michael Mcdowell – 200th career start.
18. Clint Bowyer
19. Kasey Kahne
20. Ryan Blaney
21. Danica Patrick
22. Paul Menard
23. Landon Cassill
24. Boris Said
25. Brian Scott
26. Josh Wise
27. Aric Almirola
28. Cole Whitt
29. Kyle Larson – Was running 4th on the final turn.
30. Chris Buescher – Crash.
31. Austin Dillon – Crash.
32. Kevin Harvick – Crash.
33. David Ragan – Crash.
34. Matt Dibenedetto – Crash.
35. Regan Smith
36. Alex Kennedy – Blown engine.
37. Michael Annett
38. Ricky Stenhouse Jr – Crash.
39. Greg Biffle – Crash.
40. Jimmie Johnson – Crash.

The next race for the Sprint Cup Series is at the Bristol Motor Speedway August 20, at 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN. For more Sprint Cup updates check out the Last Lap Insider on Instagram @lastlapinsider.

Tags Cheez-it 355 NASCAR NASCAR Updates Race Recap Watkins Glen