Denny Hamlin finally had fortune go his way, as he benefited from a late caution to take the NASCAR Sprint Cup victory at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday.
Hamlin endured a spirited challenge from Matt Kenseth on the final couple of laps to win the Heluva Good! 400. Hamlin led eight laps to take his first win of the year, and 17th of his career.
His win moved him from 12th to ninth in the points standings.
“I feel like over the last six to seven weeks, we’ve been as good as anyone,” Hamlin said. “Feels good to get a win after sneaking up on everyone. When we go to these racetracks that we won at before, everyone expects us to win. We expect ourselves to win. We just had little bugs that kept us from doing that. This one we just snuck in there.” FOXSports.com
Kyle Busch, Hamlin’s teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, finished third for the second week in a row. Paul Menard came home fourth for his best result of the season, and Carl Edwards finished fifth and expanded his lead in the series standings to 20 points over second-place Kevin Harvick, who finished 14th.
Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Mark Martin and Brian Vickers completed the top 10.
Johnson continued to have problems with Michigan, one of four active Cup tracks where the five-time defending champion hasn’t won a race. Johnson spun off Turn 2 just eight laps into the race, flattened three of his four tires and broke the sway bar on the No. 48 Chevrolet.
Ultimately, Johnson lost two laps as his crew repaired the car. He salvaged a 27th-place finish but lost most of the ground in the standings he had gained on Edwards last week at Pocono. Johnson fell from second, six points back, to fifth, 29 points in arrears. NASCAR.com
FIN CAR DRIVER MAKE 1 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 2 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 3 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 4 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 5 99 Carl Edwards Ford 6 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 7 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 8 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 9 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 10 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 11 22 Kurt Busch Dodge 12 51 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 13 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 14 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 15 16 Greg Biffle Ford 16 21 Trevor Bayne Ford 17 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 18 20 Joey Logano Toyota 19 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 20 6 David Ragan Ford 21 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 22 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 23 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 24 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 25 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 26 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 27 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 28 4 Kasey Kahne Toyota 29 34 David Gilliland Ford 30 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 31 38 Travis Kvapil Ford 32 32 Mike Bliss Ford 33 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 34 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 35 0 David Reutimann Toyota 36 71 Andy Lally * Ford 37 7 Robby Gordon Dodge 38 13 Casey Mears Toyota 39 46 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 40 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 41 30 David Stremme Chevrolet 42 181 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 43 66 Michael McDowell Toyota
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