RICHMOND, Va. — It was yet another Denny Hamlin runaway for Joe Gibbs Racing in what turned out to be an anticlimactic finish to NASCAR’s regular season.
The fireworks, though, came off the track at Richmond International Raceway, where Ryan Newman angrily chided former boss Tony Stewart after an accident between the two officially ended Newman’s chances to make the playoffs.
The verbal beatdown from Newman came with 37 laps left Saturday night, before Hamlin earned his third career Sprint Cup win at Richmond while giving JGR its third consecutive victory at the track.
Newman called Stewart ‘‘bipolar,’’ said the retiring race car driver had anger issues, and all but outright referenced the 2014 incident in which Stewart fatally struck a sprint car driver.
“I guess he thought he was in a Sprint Car again; did not know how to control his anger,’’ Newman said after the two made contact three times before finally wrecking.
Stewart admitted to wrecking Newman.
‘‘He’s right, that was the third time he had driven into me. How many times is he supposed to hit you before you say, ‘I’ve had enough of it?’ ’’ Stewart said.
The wreckage caused a stoppage of just over 20 minutes and sent Newman’s temperature soaring. Newman’s team was penalized 15 points this week by NASCAR for failing post-race inspection at Darlington, and the punishment made his task of trying to race his way into the Chase extremely difficult.
Stewart qualified for the 16-driver Chase along with his Stewart Haas Racing teammates Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick.
With only three Chase spots available, Newman needed a near-miracle. He didn’t get it as the remaining playoff positions went to rookie Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon, and Jamie McMurray. Chris Buescher also made the Chase by virtue of his win at a rain-shortened race and by maintaining a spot in the top 30 in points.
The rest of the Chase field was made up of the other 12 race winners this season.
“It’s unfortunate,’’ Newman said of Stewart. “We all know he’s got issues. He proved it again tonight.’’
