Kyle Busch captures wild race at Fontana

Associated Press

FONTANA, Calif.

Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano raced side by side into the final lap, two bitter rivals unwilling to give even an inch — right up until they made contact with less than a mile to go.

The race ended with Hamlin in the hospital, Logano in a shoving match with Tony Stewart, and Kyle Busch celebrating a victory that seemed secondary to all the fury at Fontana.

Hamlin was airlifted away from the track Sunday after a collision with Logano on the penultimate turn sent him nearly head-on into the inside wall, putting a spectacular finish on the fifth race of the NASCAR season.

Logano managed to finish third despite wrecking into the outside wall after hitting Hamlin, who spun Logano last week at Bristol and sparked a bitter post-race confrontation that didn’t cool off during the past week.

“He probably shouldn’t have done what he did last week, so that’s what he gets,” Logano said.

Yet the 22-year-old Logano might have even bigger worries than his burgeoning feud with Hamlin, whose team expects him to be fine.

Stewart got into a post-race shoving match with Logano, with the three-time champion threatening to “whoop his [butt]” after Logano aggressively blocked Stewart out of a late restart.

“It’s time he learns a lesson,” Stewart said. “He’s run his mouth long enough. ... He’s nothing but a little rich kid that’s never had to work in his life, so he’s going to learn what us working guys who had to work our way up [know about] how it works.”

Almost forgotten in the post-race frenzy was Busch, who led 125 of 200 laps in his Toyota and earned his first victory of the season when he sped past Hamlin and Logano on the final turn. Dale Earnhardt Jr. also ceded the spotlight, even though NASCAR’s most popular driver moved into the Sprint Cup Series points lead with his second-place finish.

Even without Busch and Junior, NASCAR’s closest race to Hollywood had an abundance of drama.

“I’m tired of these guys doing that stuff, especially out of a kid that’s been griping about everybody else, and then he does that the next week,” Stewart said, referring to Logano’s complaints about other drivers’ similar moves. “He sent Denny to the hospital and screwed our day up. He’s talked the talk, but he hasn’t walked the walk yet.”

After a fairly entertaining race highlighted by Logano’s aggressive move to block Stewart out of the final restart, the last lap developed into a spectacle pitting rivals already angry at each other about driving tactics.

Hamlin spun Logano at Bristol while Logano was racing for the late lead on that tight Tennessee bullring. Hamlin claimed Logano had cut him off three times earlier in the race, but Logano ran over to Hamlin’s car afterward and leaned in his window for an angry exchange before the teams pulled them apart.

On Friday, Hamlin said he hoped the beef with Logano was finished, but Logano said he hadn’t received any apology and wasn’t feeling particularly forgiving.

They ended up racing together again in the opening laps at Fontana, with Logano practically grazing Hamlin’s bumper early on. Their final-lap theatrics on Fontana’s wide two-mile track appeared to be motivated by fierce racing for a win, not revenge.