Photo credit: Nigel Kinrade Photography
Racing

Watkins Glen chaos puts Hamlin, Keselowski in elimination danger

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The first round of the Cup Series playoffs created concern among drivers due to its wild card potential. These concerns were justified as chaos collected the majority of playoff drivers at Watkins Glen.

Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin dealt with the most adversity. They were both involved in an opening-lap crash that surprisingly ended Ryan Blaney's day and also damaged Christopher Bell's car.

However, this was only the start for the two veterans, who both left Watkins Glen below the cutline. Keselowski is 12 points below the cutline heading to the Round of 16 elimination race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Hamlin is six points below the cutline.

This season marks the 18th time Hamlin has competed in the Cup Series playoffs. He has never finished worse than 12th (2007) in these appearances. Now he is in danger of missing the Round of 12.

Keselowski, for comparison, is making his 12th playoff appearance. Like Hamlin, he has never finished worse than 12th (2016) after making the playoffs.

Keselowski received two penalties on pit road -- one for speeding and one for an uncontrolled tire. He was then unable to avoid spinning Hamlin into the outside wall in a three-wide incident. Hamlin ultimately finished 23rd.

"Obviously the car is just destroyed, so to finish 23rd -- I guess there is a positive," Hamlin said. "We were certainly in the worst spot most of the day, and luckily, we had some attrition there at the end that helped us out."

The final incident involving Keselowski occurred in the final stage. Joey Logano, the only driver with a secure spot in the Round of 12, got loose on a dirty track and sent Keselowski toward the outside wall. William Byron was also collected, as his car launched into the air and landed on top of Keselowski's.

Somehow, both drivers were able to drive away. However, Keselowski finished 26th while Byron finished 24th.

"I am not sure exactly what happened, but I was trying to get to the outside of the No. 22, and the No. 6 kind of hooked back to the left," Byron said.

"Glad we got some points in stage 2, that was helpful. We just have to go to Bristol and have a good weekend. This was just kind of a nightmare weekend."

These drivers were far from the only ones who had firsthand experience with the chaos during the Round of 16 race. Daniel Suarez brought out the caution after getting stuck in the gravel. He also had a loose wheel that disrupted an afternoon in which he was racing in the top 10.

Kyle Larson received a vehicle interference penalty, and he was involved in the incident that sent Hamlin into the outside wall. Christopher Bell sustained damage on the opening lap of the race and then he spun off the nose of Austin Dillon's car while trying to reach pit road with 30 laps remaining in the race.

Tyler Reddick had an unscheduled stop when pit road was closed due to issues with his car. He then spun in a wreck involving Kyle Busch with three laps remaining in the race. Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. also sustained damage on the same lap of the race, which knocked them both out of contention for top-15 finishes.

Harrison Burton avoided the crashes that collected other playoff drivers, but he blew a tire during the final stage after running in the 11th position. He left debris on the track and brought out the caution. Burton finished 24th and fell to 20 points below the cutline.

Alex Bowman and Ty Gibbs both avoided noticeable issues at the road course. Bowman, in particular, scored points in the first two stages. However, they were unable to finish the race inside of the top 15.

The only drivers who truly capitalized during Sunday afternoon's race were Austin Cindric and Chase Briscoe. They were the only playoff drivers to finish inside the top 10.

Briscoe, who was well below the cutline after a crash at Atlanta, scored 12 stage points and finished sixth. He left Watkins Glen six points above the cutline. Cindric scored six stage points and finished 10th. This added to his points-heavy 10th-place finish at Atlanta last weekend and moved him to 43 points above the cutline.