Denny Hamlin said he would win this weekend and he delivered in emphatic style with victory at the Sylvania 300 New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
After running out of fuel in the first Chase for the Sprint Cup race last Sunday at Chicagoland, Hamlin made the call via Twitter that his Joe Gibbs Racing team would bounce back with a win.
Despite starting mid-pack he quickly made his way to the front and once there he has untouchable winning by 2.675-second from Jimmie Johnson. The victory was Hamlin’s fifth of the season and the 22nd of his Cup career.
“It doesn’t hurt to have a little confidence in a team,” said Hamlin, who notched the 100th Cup win for Joe Gibbs Racing.
“I said we were fast enough to make it up, and we were. I’ll have these guys back until I die. Just our team. These are lightning-fast race cars they’re giving me.
“You don’t want to sound too cocky, but I knew what we were capable of. Our car was extremely strong, and I have a really good knack for this race track. The two together, with a crew chief like Darian (Grubb), it’s a winning combination.”
Pole-sitter Jeff Gordon ran third; Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart came home next as Chase drivers swept the top seven spots.
Hamlin held a lead of more than seven seconds over Johnson when NASCAR called the third debris caution of the race, and fourth overall, on Lap 272. The yellow bunched the field, but it didn’t matter, as Hamlin sped away after a restart on Lap 278 and easily held off Johnson, who finished second for the second consecutive race and took the Chase lead by one point over Keselowski.
Australia’s Marcos Ambrose battled all race long in his Ford and finished two laps down in 24th.
“It was a bad day and I just feel bad for everybody,” said Ambrose.
“We all put a lot of effort in and it’s just nasty when you get results like that.
“It was just a struggle from the moment we left pit lane. The car felt like it wasn’t handling that well and it never got any better. We just didn’t have speed.
“We could get balance, but we just never had any speed in it and then you’ve got to start butchering the car to try to get it to run some speed. That allows you to run two or three fast ones, but then it catches up with you.”
RESULTS: Sylvania 300 – Race 28 of 36
|
FIN |
DRIVER |
MAKE |
SPONSOR |
PTS/BNS |
LAPS |
STATUS |
| 1 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Freight | 48/2 | 300 | Running |
| 2 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe’s | 43/1 | 300 | Running |
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | Drive to End Hunger | 42/1 | 300 | Running |
| 4 | Clint Bowyer | Toyota | 5-hour Energy | 40/0 | 300 | Running |
| 5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | Farmers Insurance | 40/1 | 300 | Running |
| 6 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Miller Lite | 39/1 | 300 | Running |
| 7 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Mobil 1 / Office Depot | 38/1 | 300 | Running |
| 8 | Joey Logano | Toyota | The Home Depot | 36/0 | 300 | Running |
| 9 | Brian Vickers | Toyota | Freightliner / Jet Edge | 36/1 | 300 | Running |
| 10 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | Aspen Dental | 34/0 | 300 | Running |
| 11 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Budweiser | 33/0 | 300 | Running |
| 12 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Sylvania / Menards | 32/0 | 300 | Running |
| 13 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | AMP Energy / Diet Mtn. Dew / National Guard | 31/0 | 300 | Running |
| 14 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Zest | 31/1 | 300 | Running |
| 15 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Wheaties | 29/0 | 300 | Running |
| 16 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Furniture Row / Farm American | 28/0 | 300 | Running |
| 17 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 27/0 | 300 | Running |
| 18 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 3M / GE Appliances | 26/0 | 300 | Running |
| 19 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Aflac | 25/0 | 300 | Running |
| 20 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | Bush’s Baked Beans | 24/0 | 300 | Running |
| 21 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Dodge | Shell / Pennzoil | 0 | 300 | Running |
| 22 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | Energizer | 22/0 | 300 | Running |
| 23 | Aric Almirola | Ford | Trim Fit | 21/0 | 298 | Running |
| 24 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | Stanley | 20/0 | 298 | Running |
| 25 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | Phoenix Construction | 19/0 | 298 | Running |
| 26 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | LiftMaster | 18/0 | 297 | Running |
| 27 | Landon Cassill | Toyota | Burger King / Dr Pepper | 17/0 | 297 | Running |
| 28 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | M&M’s | 17/1 | 297 | Running |
| 29 | David Ragan | Ford | Shriner’s Hospital for Children | 15/0 | 296 | Running |
| 30 | David Reutimann | Chevrolet | Tommy Baldwin Racing | 14/0 | 295 | Running |
| 31 | Travis Kvapil | Toyota | Burger King / Dr Pepper | 13/0 | 295 | Running |
| 32 | David Gilliland | Ford | Taco Bell | 12/0 | 295 | Running |
| 33 | Mike Olsen | Ford | North Country Ford | 11/0 | 288 | Running |
| 34 | Stephen Leicht * | Chevrolet | Little Joes Autos.com | 10/0 | 151 | In Pit |
| 35 | David Stremme | Toyota | Inception Motorsports | 9/0 | 145 | In Pit |
| 36 | Casey Mears | Ford | GEICO | 9/1 | 100 | In Pit |
| 37 | Michael McDowell | Ford | Phil Parsons Racing | 7/0 | 97 | In Pit |
| 38 | Scott Speed | Ford | Jordan Truck Sales | 6/0 | 88 | In Pit |
| 39 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | AM / FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves | 0 | 78 | In Pit |
| 40 | Tony Raines | Chevrolet | Tommy Baldwin Racing | 4/0 | 68 | In Pit |
| 41 | J.J. Yeley | Chevrolet | MaxQworkforce.com | 3/0 | 29 | In Pit |
| 42 | Reed Sorenson | Chevrolet | Plinker Tactical | 0 | 21 | In Pit |
| 43 | Kelly Bires | Ford | BBI / Bestway | 0 | 20 | In Pit |
* Denotes Rookie
STANDINGS: Race 28 of 36
|
RANK |
+/- |
DRIVER |
POINTS |
BEHIND |
STARTS |
POLES |
WINS |
TOP 5 |
TOP 10 |
| 1 | +1 | Jimmie Johnson | 2096 | Leader | 28 | 2 | 3 | 14 | 19 |
| 2 | -1 | Brad Keselowski | 2095 | -1 | 28 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 17 |
| 3 | +1 | Denny Hamlin | 2089 | -7 | 28 | 2 | 5 | 12 | 14 |
| 4 | -1 | Tony Stewart | 2086 | -10 | 28 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 14 |
| 5 | — | Kasey Kahne | 2081 | -15 | 28 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 15 |
| 6 | — | Clint Bowyer | 2081 | -15 | 28 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 17 |
| 7 | — | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 2070 | -26 | 28 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 18 |
| 8 | +2 | Kevin Harvick | 2065 | -31 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 11 |
| 9 | -1 | Greg Biffle | 2063 | -33 | 28 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 15 |
| 10 | -1 | Martin Truex Jr. | 2062 | -34 | 28 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 15 |
| 11 | — | Matt Kenseth | 2061 | -35 | 28 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 16 |
| 12 | — | Jeff Gordon | 2051 | -45 | 28 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 13 |
| 13 | — | Kyle Busch | 831 | -1265 | 28 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 13 |
| 14 | — | Ryan Newman | 807 | -1289 | 28 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 11 |
| 15 | — | Carl Edwards | 797 | -1299 | 28 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 11 |
| 16 | — | Paul Menard | 792 | -1304 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 17 | — | Marcos Ambrose | 772 | -1324 | 28 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| 18 | — | Joey Logano | 751 | -1345 | 28 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 10 |
| 19 | — | Jeff Burton | 696 | -1400 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| 20 | — | Jamie McMurray | 682 | -1414 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 21 | — | Juan Montoya | 651 | -1445 | 28 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 22 | — | Aric Almirola | 636 | -1460 | 28 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 23 | — | Regan Smith | 604 | -1492 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 24 | — | Bobby Labonte | 599 | -1497 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 25 | +1 | Kurt Busch | 530 | -1566 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 26 | -1 | Mark Martin | 522 | -1574 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| 27 | +1 | David Gilliland | 479 | -1617 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | -1 | Casey Mears | 479 | -1617 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 | — | David Ragan | 475 | -1621 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 30 | — | Travis Kvapil | 460 | -1636 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 | — | Landon Cassill | 453 | -1643 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | — | AJ Allmendinger | 400 | -1696 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 33 | — | Dave Blaney | 349 | -1747 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | — | David Reutimann | 330 | -1766 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 | +1 | Brian Vickers | 213 | -1883 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 36 | -1 | David Stremme | 198 | -1898 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | — | J.J. Yeley | 141 | -1955 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | — | Michael McDowell | 134 | -1962 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 | — | Josh Wise* | 115 | -1981 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 | — | Ken Schrader | 111 | -1985 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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