NASCAR Cup Series: Denny Hamlin wins 2019 Bluegreen Vacations 500

Denny Hamlin secured his second career NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 berth with a victory at ISM Raceway in the Bluegreen Vacations 500.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin needed to win the third and final race of the round of 8 of the four-round, 10-race 2019 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs as the laps wound down in this race, the Bluegreen Vacations 500, at ISM Raceway in order to lock himself into the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

That’s just what the winningest active non-champion did, locking himself into the Championship 4 for the second time and for the first time since the 2014 season with his sixth victory of the season and his second victory of the playoffs.

Hamlin started this 312-lap race around the four-turn, 1.022-mile (1.645-kilometer) ISM Raceway oval in Avondale, Arizona in place in third place in his #11 Toyota, and he won it by 0.377 seconds over teammate Kyle Busch in second in his #18 Toyota following a restart with three laps remaining that took place as a result of a late caution flag period that took away a massive lead that Hamlin held over the rest of the field.

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Busch was the lone driver who locked himself into the Championship 4 based on his point total. He is set to join Hamlin, teammate Martin Truex Jr. and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick.

Not advancing to the Championship 4 from the round of 8 were third and fourth place finishers Ryan Blaney of Team Penske and Kyle Larson and Chip Ganassi Racing in their #12 Ford and #42 Chevrolet, respectively.

Harvick and Truex, who won at Texas Motor Speedway last Sunday and Martinsville Speedway two Sundays ago, finished in fifth and sixth place in their #4 Ford and #19 Toyota, respectively.

The highest finishing non-round of 8 playoff drivers of this race were Joe Gibbs Racing’s Erik Jones and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Clint Bowyer. They finished in seventh and eighth place in their #20 Toyota and #14 Ford, respectively.

Team Penske’s Joey Logano, who entered this race ahead of the Championship 4 cut line, finished in ninth place in his #22 Ford. As a result, he will not be able to defend his championship next Sunday afternoon at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Teammate Brad Keselowski rounded out the top 10 with a 10th place finish in his #2 Ford.

The other round of 8 driver, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, needed to win the race to advance to what would have been his first Championship 4. After spending a considerable amount of time in the top two, a flat tire in the race’s third and final stage sent him spinning into the wall, ruining his championship aspirations for 2019.

This race featured only eight lead changes among five drivers. Hamlin led more laps than anybody else in the field with 143 laps. The other four drivers who led the race were Busch, Logano, Keselowski and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kurt Busch, who finished in 11th place in his #1 Chevrolet. Hamlin won stage one and Logano won stage two.

This race featured five caution flag periods, and 35 of the 39 drivers who started the race finished it. Of these 35 drivers, 15 finished on the lead lap.

Here are the full race results of the 2019 Bluegreen Vacations 500 at ISM Raceway.

NOTE: Round of 8 playoff drivers are listed in italics.

Race Results
1st – Denny Hamlin
2nd – Kyle Busch
3rd – Ryan Blaney
4th – Kyle Larson
5th – Kevin Harvick
6th – Martin Truex Jr.
7th – Erik Jones
8th – Clint Bowyer
9th – Joey Logano
10th – Brad Keselowski
11th – Kurt Busch
12th – Paul Menard
13th – Matt DiBenedetto
14th – Jimmie Johnson
15th – Daniel Suarez
16th – Chris Buescher
17th – William Byron
18th – Ryan Newman
19th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
20th – Ty Dillon
21st – Daniel Hemric
22nd – Aric Almirola
23rd – Alex Bowman
24th – Austin Dillon
25th – Darrell Wallace Jr.
26th – Ryan Preece
27th – John Hunter Nemechek
28th – Ross Chastain
29th – J.J. Yeley
30th – Michael McDowell
31st – Garrett Smithley
32nd – Bayley Currey
33rd – Landon Cassill
34th – Joe Nemechek
35th – Corey LaJoie
36th – David Ragan
37th – Reed Sorenson
38th – Joey Gase
39th – Chase Elliott

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The 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season finale is scheduled to take place on Sunday, November 17. This race, the Ford EcoBoost 400, is the Championship 4 race, and it is set to be broadcast live from Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida on NBC beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET.

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