CUP: Hamlin Embarrasses Field At MIS

Sprint Cup

CUP: Hamlin Embarrasses Field At MIS

Denny Hamlin won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Heluva Good 400 at Michigan International Speedway...

Mike Hembree | Posted June 14, 2010 Brooklyn, MI

Denny Hamlin celebrates in victory lane after winning at Michigan in June. (Photo: Getty Images)

Denny Hamlin has established himself as a clear threat to win the Sprint Cup championship, and he underlined that idea Sunday.

LINK> UNOFFICIAL RESULTS: HELUVA GOOD! 400 - MICHIGAN
PDF> UNOFFICIAL DRIVER POINTS: HELUVA GOOD! 400 - MICHIGAN

Hamlin dominated the Heluva Good 400 at Michigan International Speedway, leading 123 of the 200 laps and coasting to a 1.247-second win over Kasey Kahne.

Hamlin was virtually unchallenged at the front over the final half of the race. He won for the second straight week and scored Joe Gibbs Racing’s fifth win in the past six races.

Hamlin has won five times this year, a personal seasonal record.

Following Hamlin and Kahne were Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart.

“It’s so easy to drive cars like this,” Hamlin said. “The team makes me look good. We’re going to keep making a run at them.”

Hamlin is third to leader Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch in points.

Kahne said he wasn’t surprised at Hamlin’s strength. “They’ve been there for a couple of months,” he said. “I didn’t like watching him drive away from me, but I wasn’t surprised when he did.”

Kahne got a shot at catching Hamlin in the closing laps of the race when a caution flag for debris on the backstretch wiped out a nine-second Hamlin lead. The lead group stayed on the track during the caution period, and the final green flew with 14 laps to go.

Hamlin shot into the first turn with the lead, and his edge wasn’t threatened through the final lap. By the end of the first green-flag lap, he led Kahne by .432 of a second.

“I knew a caution was coming,” Hamlin said. “I thought I might as well slow down and save some tires. But the best car won. That’s all you can hope for.”

Hamlin took control of the race on lap 114, passing Busch for the lead. He led the next 27 laps, lost the lead for two laps in the pits, and then took charge again.

There was little action in the first half of the race as Kurt Busch and Hamlin dominated things at the front.

Busch, the pole winner, led 47 of the first 50 laps. Over the first 104 laps, Busch led 52 and Hamlin 40. No one else led more than four.

The day’s first caution flew on lap 20 as Marcos Ambrose and Regan Smith got together near the start of the frontstretch, sending Ambrose careening onto the grass separating the track from pit road.

The third caution was quite unfortunate for Red Bull Racing. Casey Mears bumped his teammate, Scott Speed, while they were racing virtually alone near the back of the pack, sending Speed into a slide. The incident did not amuse Speed, who complained over the team’s two-way radio.

LINK> UNOFFICIAL RESULTS: HELUVA GOOD! 400 - MICHIGAN
PDF> UNOFFICIAL DRIVER POINTS: HELUVA GOOD! 400 - MICHIGAN

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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Mike Hembree

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