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WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Many NASCAR Cup Series playoff brackets were hindered after an eventful postseason opener last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. No brackets have been busted — yet.
With Atlanta having superspeedway tendencies, teams played varying strategies. Denny Hamlin hung out in the rear, believing there would be a late pileup and aimed to score at least 20 points. That didn‘t happen, and when there was a last-lap wreck, the No. 11 Toyota was involved. Meanwhile, Brad Keselowski, known for his superspeedway prowess, had a ho-hum performance and dropped below the elimination line by a single point.
Kyle Larson, the No. 1 seed, lost control of his car in the waning laps of the opening stage from third position and smacked the wall hard and scored a single point for the race. Martin Truex Jr. was also caught up in a wreck during the final stage and finished 12 laps down in 35th position. He remains 15th on the playoff grid, 19 points below the elimination lane.
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The final two races of the Round of 16 have a bundle of challenges. High tire wear is expected in Sunday‘s Go Bowling at The Glen (3 p.m. ET, USA, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App), as well as next weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway. Both are tracks at which it’s easy to make a mistake.
Keselowski has scored a single top-10 finish in the last 21 road-course races and qualified 28th for Sunday‘s race at Watkins Glen. He believes if he can escape Watkins Glen within 10 to 20 points of the elimination line that he could still point his way into the Round of 12.
“Here, not so great. Bristol has been really good for us,” Keselowski said of his outlook. “We just want to be within fight range for Bristol. Even if we‘re not in fighting range, I think we will have a great shot to win.
“I look at the guys that I‘m around and I‘m prepared to go to Bristol and run real hard, have a great car and make it count.”
The No. 11 team had a discussion this week and Hamlin said his crew chief Chris Gabehart won‘t allow his driver to pull the same strategy at Talladega in the Round of 12, should Hamlin advance out of the opening round. Sitting two points above the elimination line, there is little room for error, though he has been victorious in the last two Bristol races.
“Certainly, I don‘t love where I‘m at,” Hamlin said. “That‘s a given. But I still think if I just do the best that I can [at Watkins Glen], do the best I can at Bristol, it will still work itself out. If it doesn‘t, it doesn‘t. My number one goal is getting to a win total and I have plenty of races to do that. I‘m going to try to win at least two races in this playoffs and hopefully they count towards something when I do.”
MORE: See full rosters for Cup teams at Watkins Glen
Following the conclusion of the Atlanta race, Larson was enthused to still be above the elimination line. He has three combined wins at Watkins Glen and Bristol, including visiting Victory Lane in two of the last three races on the famed road course. He doesn‘t feel comfortable, though, knowing how challenging both tracks are.
“I thought it would be way worse,” Larson said on Saturday, when discussing his points position after failing to finish at Atlanta. “When you‘re strapping out of the car, you‘re like, ‘Man, I‘m going to be right at it or below. But watching the race play out and they had the points up there, I figured I would end the race from 12 to 18 or so back and we‘re right in the middle of it at 15 ahead. I will take that for only getting one point.
“We have results and that helps give you a little bit of confidence, but it‘s still a couple of nerve-wracking tracks.”
Amid a summer slump that hasn‘t seen Truex score a top-five finish since early May at Kansas Speedway, he isn‘t sure if he will have to win at either The Glen or Bristol to advance to the Round of 12. His track record is much better at WGI, with six top-10 finishes in the last seven races. He has five top-10 finishes total at Bristol — and finished third in March — in 34 starts.
“I feel really good about it, honestly,” Truex said of his outlook for the next two weekends. “We should be able to perform well [at Watkins Glen]. It is going to be interesting this weekend with tires that they‘ve brought and the fall off that everyone is talking about. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.”
Truex earned the best starting position of all 16 playoff drivers on Saturday at Watkins Glen, lining up on the front row next to Ross Chastain.
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