Busch Punches Ticket into NASCAR's Championship Race

By ESPN

There should be no confusion about the intensity of NASCAR's playoffs after Sunday's show at Martinsville Speedway.

Chase Elliott could have won. Same for Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin.

It was Kyle Busch, though, who punched his ticket into NASCAR's championship race with a victory.

Busch moved Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Hamlin out of his way in overtime to win at Martinsville and earn a spot in the championship race for the third consecutive year. He won the series title in 2015.

It was a ho-hum race that got very intense very quickly in the waning laps.

"Life ain't fair, buddy," Busch said. "What's fair and what's not is irrelevant. When it comes down to the end of the race and you're racing for a win like that and you see the white flag waving and the door kind of cracks its way open a little bit, you've got to put your foot in and go get it.

"That was our opportunity to punch our ticket to go to Homestead."

Keselowski was in position to win when Joey Logano developed a tire problem with about 10 laps remaining in regulation. Had his Team Penske teammate pitted under green to fix the tire, Keselowski likely would have coasted to the win and earned a spot in the finale.

Instead, Logano spun and brought out a caution. Keselowski was moved out of the way by Elliott after a restart, and Hamlin spun Elliott out of the lead with two laps remaining in regulation. Elliott wrecked, chased Hamlin down on the cool-down lap to show his displeasure, and the drivers had a heated exchange after they climbed from their cars.

Hamlin at first defended his actions because of the stakes but later apologized to Elliott in a statement he tweeted.

"I've raced nearly 10,000 races since I was 7," Hamlin said. "Today was the first time I've ever spun the leader. I regret the outcome because it was not intentional the way it turned out, but I'm responsible for my own car and take blame.

"Nothing I say now can turn back the clock, but it's a life lesson, and hope no kids out there who aspire to race thinks that's the way you should do it," he added. "It's becoming normal in our sport now, and I hate that I'm now in the discussion as a guilty party, but I'll move on and hope Chase, his team and fans accept my apology."

It was a disastrous result for Elliott -- from potential race winner to 27th, lowest of the eight remaining playoff drivers.

"My mom always said if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all," Elliott said. "He's not worth my time. I got punted from behind and wrecked in Turn 3 leading the race. I don't know what his problem was. It was unnecessary, and I hadn't raced him dirty all day long.

"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."

Elliott could be seen repeatedly saying, 'You wrecked me,' to Hamlin as the crowd roared its approval over the tension.

"The guy has been doing this long enough where it shouldn't happen," Elliott said. "What he did was unnecessary. ... There's no reason for that. He knows the deal. He knows how this race works. He knows how Martinsville is.

"He didn't even try to move me out of the way. He just shoved me and wrecked me."

Hamlin, meanwhile, faded to seventh after Busch bumped him for the win.

"I can't judge too much," Hamlin said of Busch's move on him. "I spun the 24 [of Elliott] out. I didn't think he'd move me. All is fair in love and war when it comes to Homestead."

Keselowski, who remarked that "everybody is just desperate," wound up fourth in a race his team believed he had to win. Instead, he was simply darting his way around a huge pileup on the final lap that ended an emotional opening race of the third round of the playoffs.

"Brad and I raced as clean as we could race each other, beating and bumping each other, and had a hard-fought battle for the lead," Elliott said. "That was not a battle [with Hamlin] at all. That was just a wreck."

Martin Truex Jr. wound up second in a 1-2 sweep for Toyota. The favorite to win the title, he said he is confident enough that he will make it to next month's finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway without having to bump Busch out of his way to grab the automatic berth.

Clint Bowyer, not eligible for the playoffs, finished third.

Kevin Harvick was fifth in a Ford, Ryan Blaney was eighth for the Wood Brothers of nearby Stuart, Virginia, and the manufacturer placed six drivers in the top 10.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the highest-finishing Chevrolet driver in 11th and was dumbfounded by the last-lap chaos.

"Man, I can't believe how everybody crossed the finish line. I ain't seen nothing like that, I ain't seen it, I don't know if I ever have seen it," Earnhardt said. "There was a wreck one time at Richmond before they ever reconfigured it in the Xfinity race on the front straightaway in like 1982. That is the only thing I ever seen like it. Crazy finish."

Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson finished 12th.

That was a near victory for Johnson, who spun in Sunday morning qualifying and needed to make repairs to his Chevrolet that forced him to start last. A nine-time Martinsville winner, he used this race last year to vault him toward his record-tying seventh championship.

At one point late in Sunday's race, Johnson was put a lap down by Hendrick Motorsports teammate Elliott.

"We were just terrible all day," Johnson said. "Oh, what a bummer. We had high hopes for this weekend."

WOMP, WOMP: Kyle Larson had been considered a strong championship contender until his engine blew in last week's elimination race at Kansas. Now out of the playoffs, he wasn't competitive Sunday, crashed and finished 37th.

"Another Martinsville for us. I've got to figure out how to get around this place," Larson said. He has one career top-10 finish at the track.

SQUEEZED SCHEDULE: NASCAR experimented with a condensed two-day show at Martinsville, where qualifying was held a little more than three hours before the start of the race. Although roughly two hours of practice time was lost by dumping the third on-track day, fans did get an autograph session and Fan Fest after Saturday's two practice sessions.

LIGHTS: The long race day gave Martinsville the opportunity to make the NASCAR debut of its new $5 million LED lighting system.

NASCAR's oldest track completed the project in February and used it once, last month in a lower-level event. Because of Sunday's late afternoon start time, the lights -- enough to brighten eight football fields with one of 15 lighting scenes -- were flipped on roughly two hours into the race.

UP NEXT: The middle race of this playoff round, Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway. Carl Edwards is the defending race winner but is now retired. Johnson won at Texas in the spring.

Gragson Wins First Truck Series

Noah Gragson won his first career Truck Series race by passing two-time champion Matt Crafton on the final restart Saturday at Martinsville Speedway.

Gragson, who is from Las Vegas, won for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Busch, who also is from Las Vegas, uses that team to groom young talent.

Gragson is the 10th first-time Truck Series winner at Martinsville, and his victory denied a driver from earning an automatic berth in the championship race of the playoffs.

The race at Martinsville was the first in the round of six for the series. Two drivers will be eliminated from the field, and Gragson is not championship-eligible.

Crafton finished second and Johnny Sauter was third. Each of the playoff drivers won a stage of Saturday's race.

Harrison Burton was fourth, followed by Todd Gilliland.