RIDGEWAY, Va. _ Mangled cars were strewn across the track, drivers were shouting at each other from inches apart, and there was Kyle Busch, squeezing through all the chaos and across the finish line.
The easy takeaway to be gleaned from the insanity at Martinsville is that Busch has punched his ticket to Homestead, where he'll race for a NASCAR Cup Series championship for the third consecutive year. But the rest of it _ Denny Hamlin wrecking Chase Elliott with four laps to go; Elliott never having won a race before; the entire field smashing into each other in a humongous last-lap collision _ will take some time to sift through.
Elliott was in the hunt to win for most of the second half of the race, even in spite of a tire rub and numerous cautions and the rest of the competition biting at his spoiler. Even with four laps to go, he had the clear path to victory ... until Hamlin sent him on a clear path into the wall in Turn 3.
And as if that wasn't enough drama, there was the last lap. Hamlin was in the thick of the crowd, and for whatever reason, him slipping or the close proximity or something else altogether, he helped start a massive wreck right as drivers were crossing the finish line. Seemingly every car got caught, too, as sparks flew and smoke poured up and out of the tiny track.
And then, with all that, Busch cruised to the win, unaffected, and into the championship race at Homestead.
