NASCAR Takeaways: Wrecks put Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski in playoff hole

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Chris Buescher won at Watkins Glen, a non-playoff driver spoiling the party for the playoff drivers Sunday looking for an automatic bid to the next round.

It wasn't much of a party at all for the playoff drivers, with three likely Hall of Fame drivers finding themselves below the playoff cutline entering the final race of the opening round next Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Denny Hamlin was involved in two accidents, including one on the opening lap, finished 23rd and is six points behind Ty Gibbs and Chase Briscoe, who are currently tied for the final two spots.

Hamlin started in 22nd, and he credited the poor qualifying result as the reason he ended up in the mess.

"My fault on qualifying — I put us on a bad spot there and put us right in the middle of the crashes," said Hamlin, who now heads to Bristol needing to perform at a track where he has won the last two Cup races.

"I can't complain if I qualify bad. ... I feel like we should be pretty confident [at Bristol]. I can't think of the last time we didn't have a race-winning car there."

Brad Keselowski also had an eventful day, at one point seeing a three-wide situation where William Byron's car hit the guardrail and ended up on top of the rear of Keselowski's car. He was 26th and is 12 points behind heading into Bristol, where he finished third in the spring and has three career Cup wins.

"It's a great track for us," Keselowski said. "You don't want to go there behind. If there's a track to go behind to, that's probably a good one for us."

And Martin Truex Jr. had a frustrating day with a 20th-place finish, putting him 14 points back.

Takeaways from the playoff race on the road course where Buescher and Shane van Gisbergen tangled on