WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Martin Truex Jr. snarled. Denny Hamlin smiled. While both find themselves below the cutline with one race to go in the opening round, they had different attitudes after a chaotic playoff race Sunday at Watkins Glen.
Truex’s car was damaged in the last incident while running 16th. Although he gained six spots in overtime to finish 20th, he was furious after climbing from his car.
“Same reason I’m getting out of this sport,” Truex told NBC Sports when asked how he walked away from Sunday’s result. “I’m tired of this.
“You get green-white-checkers at the end of the race and you know that people are just going to drive through everyone. We were in the wrong lane (and) on the short end of the stick as usual.
“We were in a decent spot there and you just go into the esses and they just plow through you and put you in the marbles. It’s ridiculous. This racing is just ridiculous.”
Truex is 14 points below the cutline going to Bristol.
His teammate, Hamlin, is six points from the cutline after a day that saw his car damaged in a Lap 1 incident and in an incident at Lap 47 of the 92-lap race.
Crew chief Chris Gabehart made it clear on the radio after Sunday’s race that six points will be not be an obstacle at Bristol.
“That is going to our house,” Gabehart told Hamlin, who has won the past two races at Bristol. “ … We are six behind. That is going to our house.”
Hamlin may not have needed the pep talk. He talked confidently Saturday about going to Bristol even if he was below the cutline.
Hamlin smiled and exuded confidence on pit road Sunday, saying: “It’s not over yet. Not over yet. Not over until the end of Bristol.”
Watkins Glen could have been a chance for Hamlin to bounce back after he stayed mainly in the back at Atlanta before he was collected in a last-lap crash in the playoff opener.
That put him just above the cutline entering Sunday’s road course race. He qualified 22nd. He was in the middle of the chaos on the opening lap and he couldn’t avoid Kyle Busch’s spinning car.
“This has just been a bad stretch,” said Hamlin, who finished 23rd — the eighth time in the last 13 races he’s placed 23rd or worse.
“I wish I could say I controlled more of it. Definitely my fault in qualifying, I put us in a bad spot there and it put us right in the middle of where the crashes are. So can’t complain if I’m involved.”
Avoiding the crashes and chaos was Chase Briscoe. He entered the race last among the 16 playoff drivers after he was in an accident at Atlanta. Sunday, he finished sixth — best among the playoff drivers.
Briscoe moved to 11th in the standings. He’s tied with Ty Gibbs, who holds the final transfer spot but Briscoe owns the tiebreaker of a better result in this round.
“We did everything we needed to do,” Briscoe said. “Realistically awe maybe could have gotten another six points if I was just a little more aggressive, but I felt like the risk vs. reward just wasn’t really worth it with how many other guys were having issues. So, overall, great day for us.”
Gibbs lost three spots in overtime to remain in the last transfer spot after starting the day there.
“It was chaos, per usual, at the end of these things,” he said after finishing 22nd.
Also below the cutline are Brad Keselowski (-12) and Harrison Burton (-20).
Keselowski had two pit road penalties and was collected in a crash late in the race, finishing 26th.
“I feel like we were going to to salvage a really good with everybody having old tires and drive up to the top 10,” Keselowski said. “Who knows, maybe a shot at a top five after everything we’ve been through and make it through the first lap. Tough way to go.”
Burton blew a left rear tire on Lap 79 and finished 24th.
“We kind of tried a different strategy to get off sequence there and had a tire coming apart, so pitted and I guess I flat-spotted that tire, so had to pit and that put us in a bad spot,” Burton told NBC Sports. “Then after we pitted and started running guys down and passing them and blew a left rear. … We’re still within range going into Bristol.”