NASCAR At Atlanta: Denny Hamlin Holds Off Jeff Gordon’s Late Charge

With a sixth-place result on Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Kyle Busch controls his own destiny entering the final race of the regular season – all he has to do is win.

But Busch has a backup plan, too. If he or another one-win driver doesn’t win the race and Busch maintains his wild card points lead over Jeff Gordon, Busch will still get into the Chase.

With the checkered flag ready to be waved on the NASCAR race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Jeff Gordon was in the position he wanted to be in as he closed in on race leader Denny Hamlin.

As the pair raced off of Turn 2, Gordon had a run on Hamlin and had to make a decision on how to best get around the No. 11 machine: Should he use his momentum and attempt to pass Hamlin on the outside, or should he get to the back of Hamlin’s bumper and move him up out of the groove?

Dale Earnhardt Jr. got a seventh-place result at Atlanta on Sunday night, so you wouldn’t think he’d use words like “embarrassed,” “disappointed” and “worried” to describe his race.

But after being caught a lap down early and running 18th or 19th for most of the night, Earnhardt Jr. and his Hendrick Motorsports team were able to pull out a good finish despite a car he said was “real bad.”

With just one race remaining until NASCAR’s Chase field is set, nine spots of the 12 playoff spots are already clinched heading into the final regular-season race at Richmond.

But after Sunday night’s Atlanta race, there’s still much to be decided about which drivers will compete for the championship.

Denny Hamlin did himself a favor -- and one for Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch in the process.

Outrunning Jeff Gordon on a two-lap dash to the finish, Hamlin scored his second straight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory, his series-best fourth of the season and the 21st of his career.

Tony Stewart will lead the starting lineup for tonight’s NASCAR race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and that’s a bit surprising.

Why? Because as good as Stewart is – three championships and 47 career wins – the driver has never been much of a qualifier.

Storylines, notes and three drivers to watch for in tonight’s NASCAR race at Atlanta Motor Speedway:

How reliable are the Hendrick engines?

Kevin Harvick was angry – understandably so – after a late debris caution in Saturday night’s Nationwide Series race at Atlanta benefited two of his competitors and ultimately may have cost him the win.

Due to the timing of the caution – which fell at the end of green-flag pit stops – two drivers were able to pit for fresher tires than Harvick. One of those drivers, Brad Keselowski, helped push eventual race winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. past Harvick.

It’s NASCAR race night at Atlanta Motor Speedway and we’ve got the actual race start time, the starting lineup and some other facts about tonight’s race for you below.

What time does the race start tonight? The CEO of race sponsor AdvoCare will give the command for drivers to fire their engines at 7:40 p.m. Eastern time tonight. Following a few pace laps, the drivers will take the green flag at 7:49 p.m. So if you want to skip the pre-race show and just tune in for the actual race itself, turn on your TV set at 7:49 p.m. EDT.

Travis Pastrana’s final NASCAR race of the season was on pace to be his best until he made a mistake in the closing laps on Saturday night at Atlanta, hitting the wall with 26 laps to go.

The incident derailed what had been the best drive of his career since coming to the Nationwide Series at the start of the season, and he even led the first laps of his NASCAR career – the result of staying out under caution as the leaders pitted on lap 119.

Danica Patrick indirectly affected the result of Saturday night’s Nationwide Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway when her contact with James Buescher brought out the final caution and set up a wild finish involving Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kevin Harvick.

“We started running the high line and the grip was so good that we got a run off the exit,” Patrick said. “It was typical Atlanta racing where the top-runners get off the corner really well and the guys on the bottom don’t have any momentum coming out.

There’s an arrest warrant out for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. -- or perhaps there should be -- after the defending NASCAR Nationwide Series champion stole Saturday night’s NRA American Warrior 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Stenhouse grabbed the lead from Kevin Harvick on the final lap, after a restart with three laps remaining. Contact between the cars of Danica Patrick and James Buescher caused the eighth and final caution and set up the three-lap run to the finish.

Atlanta Motor Speedway is fast, challenging and bumpy, and it also features multiple grooves which allows drivers to race side-by-side. In essence, it’s a driver’s track – and it’s one of Jeff Gordon’s favorite tracks to compete on.

So during his weekly media session on Friday, Gordon was passionate about the need to keep Atlanta just the way it is and not fall victim to the latest trend in NASCAR: Tracks unnecessarily repaving their racing surfaces.