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Virginia-native and Chase contender Denny Hamlin held off points leader Jimmie Johnson in several late-race restarts to win Sunday’s Tums Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
Hamlin, who had finished 37th or worse in the last two Chase races, rebounded with his second win at Martinsville—the shortest track on the Sprint Cup Series. He also claimed his third victory of the season. Last month, Hamlin concluded the “regular season” by winning at Richmond—his hometrack. MiamiHerald.com
Juan Pablo Montoya was third, followed by Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon. Jamie McMurray, polesitter Ryan Newman, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick completed the top 10.
“We were really good on the long runs, but I was kind of worried about that short run at the end,” said Hamlin, who is ninth in the standings 352 points behind Johnson. “But we were able to survive it, thank God. I hate to say it was a little bit of a lack of a motor, but it seemed like our car just would not accelerate like those guys’ did. By doing that, it saved the rear tires, and it was able to stay a little bit longer. I think that had a little bit to do with why we were so good at length (long runs).
“Jimmie obviously gave us a lot of respect there toward the end. He knew that we had a faster car and tried to protect his points lead. It was a good situation we were in. We were kind of racing for nothing, and he’s obviously racing for a championship, and, honestly, it was a great run at the end.” NASCAR
FIN CAR DRIVER MAKE 1 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 2 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 3 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 4 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 5 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 6 26 Jamie McMurray Ford 7 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 8 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 9 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 10 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 11 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 12 20 Joey Logano * Toyota 13 96 Bobby Labonte Ford 14 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 15 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 16 0 David Reutimann Toyota 17 2 Kurt Busch Dodge 18 7 Casey Mears Chevrolet 19 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 20 99 Carl Edwards Ford 21 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge 22 6 David Ragan Ford 23 98 Paul Menard Ford 24 43 Reed Sorenson Dodge 25 16 Greg Biffle Ford 26 34 John Andretti Chevrolet 27 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota 28 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet 29 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 30 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota 31 82 Scott Speed * Toyota 32 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge 33 12 David Stremme Dodge 34 44 A.J. Allmendinger Dodge 35 9 Sterling Marlin Dodge 36 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 37 7 Robby Gordon Toyota 38 187 Joe Nemechek Toyota 39 171 David Gilliland Chevrolet 40 66 Dave Blaney Toyota 41 36 Michael McDowell Toyota 42 64 Derrike Cope Toyota 43 37 Travis Kvapil Dodge
