Hamlin surges to Martinsville win
MARTINSVILLE, Va. - Denny Hamlin surged to the front after a blunder and won the rain-delayed NASCAR race at Martinsville Speedway in a wild finish.
The victory was Hamlin's second straight and came on the shortest, oldest track in the Sprint Cup Series.
Hamlin gave up the lead with less than 10 laps left Monday when he headed to pit road for tires. He then rallied from ninth place to the lead in a span of just four laps.
"That's hard to do. I had to bully my way through there towards the end, but everybody was just running into everyone," Hamlin said. "I flattened my tired with Kenseth going down the backstretch and just somehow made it work."
First, he hugged the inside into the first turn, forcing three-wide racing that almost never leads to good things. He plowed his way into fourth place before teammate Kyle Busch spun out, bringing out a caution.
The finish was an overtime two-lap sprint on which Hamlin started fourth, pushed Ryan Newman out of the way, then slipped inside Matt Kenseth and leader Jeff Gordon for the victory - and the kind of racing that made about 30,000 fans glad they came on a work day.
Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500
Monday
At Martinsville Speedway
Ridgeway, Va.
Lap length: .526 miles
(Start position in parentheses)
1. (19) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 508 laps, 130.9 rating, 195 points, $179,225.
2. (17) Joey Logano, Toyota, 508, 100.7, 170, $148,765.
3. (11) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 508, 121.3, 170, $144,901.
4. (26) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 508, 97.3, 160, $131,604.
5. (20) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 508, 90.9, 155, $95,300.
6. (14) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 508, 86.6, 150, $118,848.
7. (12) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 508, 102.7, 146, $96,125.
8. (13) Carl Edwards, Ford, 508, 88.9, 142, $118,723.
9. (3) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 508, 105.1, 138, $130,053.
10. (4) Greg Biffle, Ford, 508, 71.9, 134, $95,100.
11. (31) Marcos Ambrose, Toyota, 508, 66.6, 130, $104,673.
12. (30) Brad Keselowski, Dodge, 508, 72.7, 127, $104,785.
13. (33) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 508, 65.7, 124, $85,425.
14. (9) Paul Menard, Ford, 508, 74.1, 121, $85,875.
15. (8) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 508, 91, 118, $84,750.
16. (27) David Ragan, Ford, 508, 70.6, 115, $85,050.
17. (23) Kasey Kahne, Ford, 508, 73.4, 112, $114,715.
18. (2) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 508, 84.3, 109, $118,951.
19. (35) David Gilliland, Ford, 508, 51.5, 111, $91,373.
20. (7) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 508, 118, 108, $111,215.
21. (16) Mark Martin, Chevrolet, 507, 97.1, 105, $90,950.
22. (10) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 507, 91.6, 97, $118,781.
23. (6) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 506, 95, 99, $116,098.
24. (25) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 506, 54.5, 91, $82,475.
25. (39) Mike Bliss, Chevrolet, 506, 45.8, 88, $70,100.
26. (5) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 506, 67.7, 85, $110,273.
27. (34) Travis Kvapil, Ford, 506, 43.1, 87, $72,725.
28. (24) David Reutimann, Toyota, 503, 64.9, 79, $103,831.
29. (29) Bobby Labonte, Chevrolet, 499, 50.4, 76, $72,250.
30. (15) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 498, 71.6, 73, $108,254.
31. (32) Kevin Conway, Ford, 498, 33.3, 70, $92,235.
32. (28) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 496, 41.1, 67, $76,825.
33. (18) Scott Speed, Toyota, 491, 37.4, 64, $83,173.
34. (38) Robby Gordon, Toyota, 480, 36.8, 61, $81,498.
35. (1) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 408, 97.5, 63, $105,776.
36. (22) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 400, 62.5, 55, $103,781.
37. (36) David Stremme, Ford, rear gear, 307, 40.9, 52, $76,300.
38. (21) AJ Allmendinger, Ford, accident, 173, 51.5, 49, $105,601.
39. (43) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, accident, 67, 32.2, 46, $68,200.
40. (40) Max Papis, Toyota, brakes, 52, 32.5, 43, $68,125.
41. (37) Aric Almirola, Chevrolet, brakes, 43, 33.5, 40, $68,075.
42. (42) Dave Blaney, Toyota, overheating, 24, 27.4, 37, $67,990.
43. (41) Michael McDowell, Toyota, brakes, 19, 29.3, 34, $67,536.
Top 12 in Points: 1. J.Johnson, 898; 2. G.Biffle, 884; 3. M.Kenseth, 882; 4. K.Harvick, 837; 5. J.Burton, 785; 6. Ku.Busch, 776; 7. J.Gordon, 773; 8. T.Stewart, 770; 9. C.Bowyer, 747; 10. D.Earnhardt Jr., 739; 11. P.Menard, 735; 12. B.Vickers, 734.