Hanging on: Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne among those to survive Chase bubble at Dover

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Survive and advance. Turns out it works pretty good in NASCAR, too.

With today’s first-ever Chase for the Sprint Cup elimination race at Dover International Speedway, pressure reached a boiling point for those Chase drivers fighting to make the Top 12 and go on to the Contender Round.

But while some on the advance bubble couldn’t get the results they needed to keep their championship hopes alive, others did.

Among the latter group were Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth.

While teammate Kyle Busch had a decent points cushion before today, Hamlin and Kenseth did not; in fact, Hamlin was outside the cutoff.

But both of them did what they had to do.

Kenseth finished fifth to be 20 points inside the Top 12 and Hamlin – who had dubbed this race as the most important of his career – finished 11th to secure his spot in the next round by a mere four points.

“I feel great,” Hamlin said to ESPN. You never know what can happen. I know we had a car that was capable to race our way in, but I didn’t think it was going to be that close…I’m just happy this all resets, we start from scratch and have another life.

“The tracks just keep getting better for as this Chase goes on. We’re sitting in good shape. We’re as level as anyone right now. This is going to be a great comeback story if we keep going.”

Between Kenseth and Hamlin on the Chase Grid after Dover were eighth-place finisher Ryan Newman (+14 points over the cutoff) and 11th-place finisher Carl Edwards (also at +14 points), the latter now being the sole representative for Roush Fenway Racing after Greg Biffle was eliminated.

And at the bottom of the Chase Grid – but nonetheless moving on – was Kasey Kahne after what may be the hardest-fought 20th-place finish he’ll ever have.

On Lap 160, a loose wheel forced Kahne to the pits under green and knocked him two laps down. He pitted again under at Lap 240, going four laps down briefly.

But this time, the pit cycle played out under green as he needed it to. A caution at Lap 253 allowed him to pull within one lap down and get in the hunt for the free pass that would put him back on the lead lap.

Kahne never got it. But as the latter stages of the race progressed, he found himself in conflict with Kurt Busch for the advance position thanks to Busch fading on long runs.

With less than 50 to go, Busch held the advance position but a tight condition on his car forced him to cede precious positions. Meanwhile, Kahne helped his cause by passing Greg Biffle for 20th spot.

In the end, the math worked out in Kahne’s favor.

After making the Chase with a victory in the penultimate regular season race at Atlanta, Kahne once again came through when he needed to.

Ford Mustang GT3 test has Austin Cindric dreaming of Daytona: ‘I want to drive that car’

Cindric Ford GT3 test
Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
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Austin Cindric wasn’t the “mystery” test driver behind the wheel of the new Ford Mustang GT3 at Sebring International Raceway, but the Team Penske driver desperately wanted to be.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, an amateur sports car driver himself, made the big reveal via a Tuesday tweet that provided the first video evidence of the GT3 Mustang on track.

“I’ve watched the video in question about a million times,” Cindric said Wednesday during a Ford Performance Zoom news conference to promote NASCAR’s first road course weekend of the season at Circuit of the Americas. “Definitely exciting times for sure. I want to drive that car. It suits my experience level and also the relationships that I have.”

Ford will enter the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next season with its GT3 Mustang, entering a two-car factory effort (that will be managed by Multimatic) in GTD Pro and making customer cars available in the GT Daytona category.

That increases the likelihood of seeing more NASCAR drivers crossing over to IMSA. Cindric has been the only full-time Cup driver in the Rolex 24 at Daytona the past two years, but Ford Performance global director Mark Rushbrook has said the GT3 Mustang will provide more opportunities.

Ford has used its GT4 Mustang as a NASCAR driver development tool in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with Harrison Burton and Zane Smith combining to win the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in January.

“We’re excited about the Next Gen car and the new architecture there and the similarities between that car and GT3 and even GT4 cars,” Rushbrook said at the announcement of the Ford GT3 program in January 2022 at Daytona. “We think it’s a great opportunity and to do be able to do that in a 24-hour race and get NASCAR drivers even more time is something we need to consider taking advantage of that opportunity.”

Given his sports car background, Cindric probably still would be in the Rolex 24 regardless. He has eight IMSA starts since the 2017 season opener at Daytona, racing a Lexus RCF GT3 and Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the GT category. The 2022 Daytona 500 winner made his second LMP2 start this year with Rick Ware Racing.

But Cindric’s preference naturally would be in a Ford, particularly with sports car racing enjoying convergence and crossovers in both GT and prototype racing.

“It’s an exciting time in GT racing, just as it is now for prototype racing with a lot of new regulations and manufacturers building new GT3 cars,” he said. “And also the opportunity with WEC (the World Endurance Championship) and Le Mans and how that all lines up for that category of car. It’s definitely an exciting time. I want to be as much of a part of that as possible.”

Though those odds seemingly will increase with multiple Ford entries in the Rolex 24 field next year, Cindric said NASCAR drivers still have to put in the networking to land rides as he has in recent years.

“Now how (the GT3 Mustang) relates to specifically NASCAR drivers and how often they want to be in the Rolex, could it be an influence? Absolutely, as far as the tie-in with the manufacturer,” Cindric said. “But the challenge and the drive and the logistics of getting an opportunity for a race like the Rolex 24 will be just as challenging as it always is to find your one-off ride for the race. At least from my experience, that’s what I still anticipate.”

It turned out the “mystery” test driver wasn’t from NASCAR (Farley revealed the driver to be 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Joey Hand after a fan asked whether it was Joey Logano).

But Cindric believes there could be more Cup drivers — and perhaps himself — behind the wheel of Mustang GT3s in the future.

“There’s definitely more of a pathway than I think there would be before as far as Ford drivers are concerned,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll get the opportunity to drive that thing. It’s obviously a great looking car. That’s the first box you’ve got to check. And it’s cool (to have) a guy like Jim Farley, no doubt he’s a racer just as much as he is steering the ship for Ford. It’s cool to see he’s just as excited as the rest of us about it.”