Road to the Sprint Cup: Part 1

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This is the first of a five-part series recapping the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, in which Jimmie Johnson would claim a record-tying seventh Cup championship.

DAYTONA 500

The 58th running of the Daytona 500 – and NASCAR’s 68th season – began in February with Hendrick Motorsports rookie Chase Elliott starting from the pole. But an early-race spin forced him off the pace and the son of 1988 Cup Series champion Bill Elliott would finish 37th.

The middle stages had Dale Earnhardt Jr., one of Elliott’s teammates, flexing his muscles after leading 15 laps and flashing the promise of what could have been a third victory in “The Great American Race.” But an accident less than 35 laps from the finish left “Junior” in 36th place at the checkered flag.

In the end, it was Joe Gibbs Racing putting an exclamation mark on Speedweeks 2016!

Denny Hamlin charged from fourth to first on the final lap, passing teammate Matt Kenseth for the lead and then surviving a dramatic side-by-side duel down the stretch with Martin Truex Jr. that ended with Hamlin scratching out the victory by a mere one one-hundredth of a second … the closest finish in Daytona 500 history.

After taking the white flag, race leader Kenseth went to the high side to block a fast-closing Hamlin and when he did, the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota darted into the middle lane and into the lead. Truex briefly got a nose in front before Hamlin moved ahead to win by an estimated four inches.

Kyle Busch finished third and Carl Edwards was fifth, giving JGR three of the top five finishing positions. Kevin Harvick rode home in fourth place.

After losing the lead to Hamlin on the final lap, Kenseth slipped back in the field and finished 14th. Hamlin’s win was Toyota’s first Daytona 500 victory. Race Results | Race Story | Race Photos

ATLANTA

The next stop was Atlanta Motor Speedway for the debut of NASCAR’s 2016 low-downforce rules package. It would produce 28 lead changes, a total identical to the track’s 2015 race.

Most of the event was caution-free with just one yellow flag in the first 323 laps. But with Jimmie Johnson in the lead less than two laps from completion of the scheduled distance, Ryan Newman’s spin brought out just the second caution of the day that would force overtime.

Johnson’s No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet pulled away from the field on the subsequent restart and was first to the white flag as a four-car accident unfolded along the backstretch – ending the race under caution and leaving Johnson with his 76th career win that tied the late Dale Earnhardt for seventh place all-time.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished second, giving Hendrick Motorsports a one-two sweep. Kyle Busch ran third, one position ahead of older brother Kurt – who had started from the pole. Carl Edwards completed the top five. Kevin Harvick started sixth and led a race-high 131 laps before finishing the day right where it began – sixth place.

Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin wound up 16th in his bid to become the first driver with back-to-back season-opening victories in the Sprint Cup Series since Matt Kenseth in 2009. Chase Elliott was the highest-finishing rookie in the 40-car field, running eighth.

It was Johnson’s fifth career victory on the mile-and-a-half Hampton, Ga., oval – second among active drivers behind only Bobby Labonte, who has six wins there. Race Results | Race Story | Race Photos

LAS VEGAS

NASCAR’s three-race swing through the western United States opened the following weekend in Las Vegas.

The afternoon began with 40-mile-an-hour winds whipping across the 1.5-mile desert oval. It looked for a while near the end of the day that Kyle Busch would blow the field away after seizing the lead on a late restart with a daring three-wide pass and pulling away.

But his No. 18 Toyota developed a vibration in the closing laps that forced the reigning Sprint Cup champion to surrender the lead to Brad Keselowski, who kept the No. 2 Team Penske Ford in front over the final six laps to notch his first victory of the young season.

Keselowski overcame a speeding penalty on pit road to claim his 18th career Cup Series win and first since March 2015 at Auto Club Speedway – a winless stretch that spanned 33 races. Keselowski’s margin of victory over teammate Joey Logano was sixty-seven one-hundredths of a second. Jimmie Johnson led a race-high 76 laps and finished third in his bid for back-to-back victories after winning the weekend before in Atlanta. Busch grabbed fourth place with Austin Dillon completing the top five.

Pole sitter Kurt Busch led only the first 31 laps and finished ninth, one of 22 drivers running on the lead lap with Keselowski at the checkered flag.

Three races into the 2016 season, three different manufacturers had Sprint Cup victories. Denny Hamlin took Toyota into the Winner’s Circle at Daytona International Speedway, Johnson was victorious in Atlanta for Chevrolet and Keselowski’s Ford won the day in Vegas. Race Results | Race Story | Race Photos

PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY

The third race …

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