Denny Hamlin has backed-up his win at last weekend’s IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol with victory in the AdvoCare 500 in Atlanta.
Hamlin held-off Jeff Gordon in a green-white-chequered to win his fourth race of the year and 21st of his career.
The victory was important for the likes of Marcos Ambrose, Ryan Newman and Kyle Busch, who along with Gordon still have a chance to make the Chase for the Cup at Richmond next weekend.
Heartbreak for third place finisher Martin Truex Jr. Who had a comfortable lead with five laps to run when Jamie McMurray slammed the wall and brought out the caution.
With fuel so tight, all teams had to come to put road and also put on four new tyres. Truex lost the race off pit road to Hamlin and Gordon sliced through to second at the re-start.
Ambrose started strongly running as high as fourth from his starting position of 10th. However, the long green flag runs in the middle of the race saw him lose the lead lap and although cautions did start to fall, he was always one spot back from the lucky dog.
On the final re-start he chose to take the wave around and not stop for tyres and although he finished on the lead lap it was in 17th position.
“We started off the night so good,” said Ambrose.
“We ran fourth up to the first pit stop and then I don’t know what happened, but we just lost pace there and couldn’t keep up with it.
“We were just fighting grip. It’s a great race track and I love racing around there, it’s just a lot of work.”
2012 Unofficial Race Results : AdvoCare 500
|
FIN |
DRIVER |
MAKE |
SPONSOR |
PTS/BNS |
LAPS |
STATUS |
| 1 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | Sport Clips | 48/5 | 327 | Running |
| 2 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | DuPont | 43/1 | 327 | Running |
| 3 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Miller Lite | 41/0 | 327 | Running |
| 4 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Shocks | 41/1 | 327 | Running |
| 5 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Rheem | 40/1 | 327 | Running |
| 6 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | Wrigley’s Doublemint | 39/1 | 327 | Running |
| 7 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | National Guard / Diet Mountain Dew | 37/0 | 327 | Running |
| 8 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Quaker State / Menards | 36/0 | 327 | Running |
| 9 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Ford EcoBoost | 35/0 | 327 | Running |
| 10 | Mark Martin | Toyota | Aaron’s Dream Machine | 34/0 | 327 | Running |
| 11 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Dodge | Shell / Pennzoil | 0 | 327 | Running |
| 12 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Caterpillar | 32/0 | 327 | Running |
| 13 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | HendrickCars.com | 31/0 | 327 | Running |
| 14 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Furniture Row / Farm American | 30/0 | 327 | Running |
| 15 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 3M / Manheim Auctions | 30/1 | 327 | Running |
| 16 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | Good Sam Club / Camping World | 0 | 327 | Running |
| 17 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | DEWALT | 27/0 | 327 | Running |
| 18 | Joey Logano | Toyota | The Home Depot | 26/0 | 327 | Running |
| 19 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | Kingsford | 25/0 | 327 | Running |
| 20 | Landon Cassill | Toyota | Burger King | 24/0 | 327 | Running |
| 21 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | Target | 23/0 | 327 | Running |
| 22 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Office Depot / Mobil 1 | 23/1 | 327 | Running |
| 23 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | HendrickCars.com | 21/0 | 325 | Running |
| 24 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats | 20/0 | 325 | Running |
| 25 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | Tommy Baldwin Racing | 19/0 | 324 | Running |
| 26 | Travis Kvapil | Toyota | Dr Pepper / Burger King | 18/0 | 324 | Running |
| 27 | Clint Bowyer | Toyota | 5-hour Energy | 17/0 | 324 | Running |
| 28 | David Ragan | Ford | Glory Foods | 16/0 | 323 | Running |
| 29 | Danica Patrick | Chevrolet | GoDaddy.com | 0 | 321 | Running |
| 30 | T.J. Bell | Ford | Greensmoke | 0 | 319 | Running |
| 31 | David Gilliland | Ford | House / Autry | 13/0 | 298 | Running |
| 32 | Aric Almirola | Ford | AdvoCare | 12/0 | 297 | Running |
| 33 | Casey Mears | Ford | GEICO | 11/0 | 291 | Engine |
| 34 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools | 10/0 | 269 | Accident |
| 35 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | Army Medicine | 9/0 | 268 | Accident |
| 36 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Subway | 8/0 | 264 | Engine |
| 37 | Scott Speed | Ford | Jordan Truck Sales | 7/0 | 196 | Susp. |
| 38 | Jason Leffler | Toyota | Robinson-Blakeney Racing | 0 | 77 | Vibration |
| 39 | David Stremme | Toyota | Inception Motorsports | 5/0 | 54 | Susp. |
| 40 | Scott Riggs | Chevrolet | North Texas Pipe | 4/0 | 43 | Vibration |
| 41 | J.J. Yeley | Chevrolet | MaxQworkforce.com | 3/0 | 32 | Brakes |
| 42 | Reed Sorenson | Chevrolet | Plinker Tactical | 0 | 24 | Overheating |
| 43 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | AM / FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves | 0 | 22 | Rear Gear |
* Denotes Rookie
STANDINGS: Race 25 of 36
|
RANK |
+/- |
DRIVER |
POINTS |
BEHIND |
STARTS |
POLES |
WINS |
TOP 5 |
TOP 10 |
| 1 | — | Greg Biffle | 879 | Leader | 25 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 14 |
| 2 | +1 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 871 | -8 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 17 |
| 3 | +1 | Matt Kenseth | 858 | -21 | 25 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 15 |
| 4 | -2 | Jimmie Johnson | 848 | -31 | 25 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 17 |
| 5 | — | Martin Truex Jr. | 838 | -41 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 14 |
| 6 | +1 | Brad Keselowski | 831 | -48 | 25 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 14 |
| 7 | +1 | Denny Hamlin | 822 | -57 | 25 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 13 |
| 8 | -2 | Clint Bowyer | 811 | -68 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 14 |
| 9 | — | Kevin Harvick | 807 | -72 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| 10 | — | Tony Stewart | 769 | -110 | 25 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 11 |
| 11 | — | Kasey Kahne | 751 | -128 | 25 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 13 |
| 12 | +1 | Kyle Busch | 746 | -133 | 25 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 12 |
| 13 | +1 | Jeff Gordon | 734 | -145 | 25 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 11 |
| 14 | -2 | Carl Edwards | 720 | -159 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 11 |
| 15 | +2 | Paul Menard | 710 | -169 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 16 | — | Marcos Ambrose | 706 | -173 | 25 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| 17 | -2 | Ryan Newman | 697 | -182 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| 18 | — | Joey Logano | 664 | -215 | 25 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 |
| 19 | — | Jamie McMurray | 618 | -261 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 20 | — | Jeff Burton | 609 | -270 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 21 | — | Juan Montoya | 584 | -295 | 25 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 22 | — | Aric Almirola | 569 | -310 | 25 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 23 | — | Regan Smith | 546 | -333 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 24 | — | Bobby Labonte | 538 | -341 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 25 | — | Kurt Busch | 483 | -396 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 26 | +2 | Mark Martin | 451 | -428 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 27 | -1 | Casey Mears | 447 | -432 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | -1 | David Gilliland | 438 | -441 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | — | David Ragan | 425 | -454 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 30 | +1 | Travis Kvapil | 417 | -462 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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