Denny Hamlin made a spectacular move with 13 laps remaining Saturday afternoon to win the Kroger 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway.
It was Hamlin’s first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win and his fifth career win at Martinsville. He has four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victories at Martinsville and will be gunning for a fifth Sunday in the TUMS Fast Relief 500.
On the final restart Hamlin was running third behind NASCAR Camping World Truck Series points contenders Austin Dillon and Ron Hornaday Jr. Dillon washed up the track entering the first turn and tapped Hornaday, allowing Hamlin to take the lead.
Hornaday wound up second with Dillon third. Johnny Sauter finished fourth with rookie Joey Coulter fifth. Martinsville Daily
“I can’t say enough for everyone here at KBM and for Kyle letting me drive this truck,” Hamlin said. “It really means a lot to me to get my first truck victory.”
Hamlin became the 23rd different driver to win a race in each of NASCAR’s three national touring series. He has four Sprint Cup victories at this 0.526- mile track.
“I just gave it everything I had during the last 50 laps; it was the hardest 50 laps I’ve ever driven at Martinsville,” he said.
Kevin Harvick, Cale Gale, Timothy Peters, Brendan Gaughan and James Buescher finished sixth through 10th, respectively. MiamiHerald.com
“We gave it to him—I did,” said Dillon, who expanded his points lead to 11 over 10th-place finisher James Buescher. “Just couldn’t make the first turn and ran into Ron. If I could have made it through the first turn, it would have been me [or] Ron in Victory Lane, I’m pretty sure. We had faster trucks.”
Hornaday said he expected Dillon to slip in the corner and was prepared for it.
“The lap before the [next-to-last] restart, I cleaned my tires off pretty good, and I still shoved my nose pretty good,” said Hornaday, who gained one point on Dillon and now is tied for third in the standings with Sauter, 15 points back. “When I saw Austin not weaving his truck as much as I did on the [last] restart, I knew he was coming up into me.
“I had to make sure his right front tire was at my door, and I could lean on him back a little bit, so we didn’t get up in the marbles. It worked out for both of us, other than Denny Hamlin snuck through the middle of both of us and stole the win—but we’ll take it.” NASCAR.com
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NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: Kroger 200 at Martinsville - Race Results
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