CUP: Hamlin Breaks Through At MIS

Sprint Cup

CUP: Hamlin Breaks Through At MIS

Denny Hamlin is now a race-winner in 2011...

Tom Jensen | Posted June 19, 2011 Brooklyn, MI

Denny Hamlin won Sunday’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at Michigan International Speedway, taking his first and only lead on pit road during a caution on Lap 193.

Hamlin pitted from second but got out ahead and held on to win his first NASCAR Sprint Cup race of the season over Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Paul Menard and Carl Edwards.

It was a big day for Hamlin, as he put the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota into victory lane after coming close several times in recent weeks.

“We finished, that’s the thing,” said Hamlin. “We got it done.”

The driver had endured a frustrating season to date.

“Everyone knows we’ve been strong ... and we got it working at the end,” said Hamlin, who has two victories and a runner-up finish in his last three races here.

It didn’t look like Hamlin was going to be a factor early on.

Pole-sitter Kurt Busch put his No. 22 Penske Racing Dodge out front on the opening lap, ahead of David Reutimann and Tony Stewart.

Jimmie Johnson spun at the exit to Turn 2 on Lap 8, popping three tires on the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and bringing out a caution flag.

Busch went back out front when the track went green on Lap 12, but one lap later, two-time MIS winner Greg Biffle went by to take the lead.

Robby Gordon pancaked the wall on Lap 27 to cause the second caution. Johnson went two laps down because the team had to replace his front sway bar on pit road. That ended his hopes of being a factor on the day.

At the one-quarter distance, Biffle was 1.122 seconds ahead of teammate Matt Kenseth Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards, making it three Roush Fenway Fords in the top five.

After a round of green-flag pit stops that began on Lap 60, Kyle Busch passed Kenseth and quickly started pressuring Biffle for the lead. The three raced hard for the lead, Kenseth moving back into the top spot, only to find out his crew did not get his car full of fuel on the prior stop.

On Lap 84, Brad Keselowski blew a right-front tire and hit the Turn 1 wall with his Penske Dodge, causing the yellow flag to fly for a third time.

Biffle took the lead on pit road, followed by Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch and AJ Allmendinger. Slow pit stops dropped Kenseth to eighth and Earnhardt to 18th.

At the halfway point, Kyle Busch took the lead over Biffle, with Kurt Busch third, then Kenseth and Allmendinger. But Busch was complaining of an ailing stomach, with Scott Riggs dispatched as a possible relief driver.

The next cycle of green-flag stops began around Lap 117, race-leader Busch pitting his Toyota on Lap 122.

Once the stops cycled through, Kyle led the Fords of Biffle, Kenseth, Allmendinger and Edwards.

On Lap 132, Kenseth moved to second place and set out after the race-leading Toyota of Busch. But by that point, Busch had a lead of more than 2 seconds, as his stomach pains had subsided.

Kenseth managed to get on the back of Busch’s bumper, until he peeled off for a pit stop on Lap 154. Then on Lap 159, Juan Pablo Montoya was rammed by Andy Lally and spun on the infield, setting up the fourth caution period of the day.

Under caution, Kenseth took tires only and emerged with the lead over Kyle Busch.

On the restart on Lap 164, the field went four-wide, Edwards taking the lead over Hamlin and Kenseth.

As the laps wound down, fuel became an issue. But that all changed on Lap 191, when Earnhardt lost a right-front tire and went into the wall.

The leaders all pitted, most taking two tires. Hamlin won the race off pit road over Kenseth, Edwards, Menard and Stewart.

The race restarted on Lap 196, Hamlin leading as Kenseth spun his tires. Hamlin held on from there to win his first race of the season.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Jensen

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