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Stops aid Hamlin win: Johnson remains in Chase lead
AP Photo
A fan salutes Denny Hamlin, who celebrates his Tums 500 win at Martinsville Speedway yesterday by doing a burnout in front of the stands.
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Published: October 26, 2009
MARTINSVILLE, Va. - Denny Hamlin didn't need to do anything funny to exact his revenge on Jimmie Johnson at Martinsville Speedway. He just drove right by him.
And then he drove away with ease on three restarts over the final 52 laps at the shortest circuit in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series, ending Johnson's remarkable run of five trips to Victory Lane in the previous six races.
Hamlin used an out-of-sequence pit stop after about 160 laps to move to the front, then held on up there until the entire leaderboard headed for pit road about 20 laps later.
"Once we got that track position, our car just kind of took off," he said.
The finish shaped up as another possible drama involving Hamlin and Johnson, who nudged Hamlin aside with 15 laps to go at Martinsville in the spring and sailed off to an easy victory.
But with NASCAR having implemented double-file restarts since then, it was no trouble.
"The only difference was it was double-file restarts vs. single file and you actually feel a little bit better with him right beside you than behind you," Hamlin said.
He wound up leading the final 138 laps after passing Johnson, and pulled away after a restart with 52 laps to go, another with 12 laps left and a then a two-lap sprint to the end.
The final restart was for debris on the track, which he thought curious.
"It was there in turn one," he said of the debris. "However, it was there at lap 100. It was. I'm not kidding you. It was there. I don't know if there was another piece somewhere."
Johnson said he wished he had the car to reprise his bump-and-run pass of the spring.
"If I had a chance to pass him and to get to his bumper and work him over, I would have," he said. "But I wasn't going to come in with the second-place car and take a cheap shot and pass him that way. If I felt like I had a car to win the race, I would have been up there leaning on him some."
Instead, he protected his position and his points lead.
Seeking his record fourth consecutive series title, Johnson extended his lead over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin from 90 to 118 with four races remaining. Jeff Gordon, also of Hendrick, remained third but saw his deficit grow from 135 to 150.
Juan Pablo Montoya finished third, followed by Kyle Busch, who passed Gordon on the final lap. Martin finished eighth.
"I would have liked to have been hooked up better, but we couldn't get it and we fought tooth and nail for everything we could get," Martin said.
Hamlin's second career victory on the 0.526-mile oval kept the Virginia racer as the only driver besides Johnson to win on the paperclip-shaped track in the last seven races.
He led three times for a race-high 206 laps, while Johnson led 164 circuits.
Hamlin, who seemingly dominates just as often as Johnson at Martinsville, but without the finishes to show for it, showed he had Johnson's number when he passed him on lap 363.
He then pulled steadily away, deftly moving around lapped traffic and opening a lead of more than 4 seconds during a long green-flag run. With just more than 70 laps to go, radio chatter indicted that the teams were fast approaching pit stops under green, a rarity at Martinsville.
The stops started among drivers not in contention, and then Montoya and Johnson headed in, with Hamlin stopping two laps later. He emerged with his nearly 4-second lead intact.
The victory was Hamlin's third of the season, a small consolation because, after saying he felt like the man to beat in the 10-race Chase for the championship, he had faded to 11th.
TUMS Fast Relief 500 results
(At Martinsville Speedway)
Fin. St. Driver Car Laps Rat. Pts. Money
1. 17 Denny Hamlin Toyota 501 131.7 195 $189,500
2. 15 Jimmie Johnson Chevy 501 135.5 175 $169,526
3. 21 Juan Pablo Montoya Chevy 501 122.7 170 $143,298
4. 41 Kyle Busch Toyota 501 95.4 165 $138,698
5. 2 Jeff Gordon Chevy 501 110.7 160 $126,351
6. 23 Jamie McMurray Ford 501 85.2 150 $97,950
7. 1 Ryan Newman Chevy 501 109.6 151 $122,004
8. 4 Mark Martin Chevy 501 113.5 147 $89,350
9. 13 Tony Stewart Chevy 501 98.2 138 $99,923
10. 10 Kevin Harvick Chevy 501 101.5 134 $118,703
11. 24 Brian Vickers Toyota 501 92 130 $106,573
12. 7 Joey Logano Toyota 501 80.6 127 $122,576
13. 8 Bobby Labonte Ford 501 81.7 124 $107,004
14. 32 Matt Kenseth Ford 501 62.4 121 $120,290
15. 22 Jeff Burton Chevy 501 83.1 123 $121,156
16. 5 David Reutimann Toyota 501 89.8 120 $101,473
17. 37 Kurt Busch Dodge 501 72.4 112 $91,250
18. 6 Casey Mears Chevy 501 82.2 109 $90,175
19. 19 Clint Bowyer Chevy 501 91.9 106 $83,150
20. 29 Carl Edwards Ford 501 81.4 103 $122,256
21. 40 Elliott Sadler Dodge 500 63.7 100 $82,575
22. 14 David Ragan Ford 500 68 97 $82,675
23. 30 Paul Menard Ford 500 56.6 94 $105,431
24. 9 Reed Sorenson Dodge 500 55.8 91 $111,176
25. 20 Greg Biffle Ford 500 48.7 93 $90,550
26. 27 John Andretti Chevy 499 47.5 90 $81,375
27. 34 Marcos Ambrose Toyota 499 42.6 82 $87,673
28. 3 Martin Truex Jr. Chevy 499 67.6 79 $108,940
29. 12 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevy 499 66.2 76 $87,825
30. 36 Michael Waltrip Toyota 497 39.4 73 $80,750
31. 18 Scott Speed Toyota 495 48.7 70 $81,698
32. 26 Kasey Kahne Dodge 494 51.8 67 $111,973
33. 11 David Stremme Dodge 439 51.9 64 $102,890
34. 16 AJ Allmendinger Dodge 414 56 61 $70,300
35. 38 Sterling Marlin Dodge 355 40.3 58 $69,300
36. 31 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 248 55 55 $88,010
37. 33 Robby Gordon Toyota 130 40 52 $87,960
38. 28 Joe Nemechek Toyota 52 28.8 49 $69,150
39. 35 David Gilliland Chevy 48 31.4 51 $69,100
40. 39 Dave Blaney Toyota 38 29.8 43 $69,050
41. 42 Michael McDowell Toyota 36 27.8 40 $69,000
42. 43 Derrike Cope Toyota 31 26.4 37 $68,940
43. 25 Travis Kvapil Dodge 30 35 34 $68,523
Race statistics
Average speed of winner: 73.633 mph. Time of race: 3 hours, 34 minutes, 44 seconds. Margin of victory: Under caution. Caution flags: 15 for 77 laps. Lead changes: 21 among 12 drivers. Lap leaders: R.Newman 1-21; J.Gordon 22-46; J.Andretti 47; D.Gilliland 48; J.Gordon 49-58; J.Johnson 59-89; R.Newman 90; J.Johnson 91-130; R.Newman 131; J.Johnson 132-140; J.Montoya 141-177; J.Gordon 178; J.Burton 179-182; D.Hamlin 183-201; Ky.Busch 202-205; D.Hamlin 206-253; G.Biffle 254-259; J.Johnson 260-301; M.Martin 302; D.Reutimann 303-320; J.Johnson 321-362; D.Hamlin 363-501 Leaders summary (Driver, times led, laps led): J.Johnson, 5 times for 164 laps; J.Montoya, 1 time for 37 laps; J.Gordon, 3 times for 36 laps; R.Newman, 3 times for 23 laps; D.Reutimann, 1 time for 18 laps; G.Biffle, 1 time for 6 laps; Ky.Busch, 1 time for 4 laps; J.Burton, 1 time for 4 laps; M.Martin, 1 time for 1 lap; J.Andretti, 1 time for 1 lap; D.Gilliland, 1 time for 1 lap
* Did not finish
Scott Speed, Sam Hornish Jr., (accident); David Stremme (rear end); Sterling Marlin, David Gilliland, Michael McDowell, Derrike Cope, Travis Kvapil (brakes); Robby Gordon (drive shaft); Joe Nemechek, Dave Blaney (overheating)
Points leaders
1. J.Johnson, 6,098; 2. M.Martin, 5,980; 3. J.Gordon, 5,948; 4. T.Stewart, 5,906; 5. J.Montoya, 5,898; 6. Ku.Busch, 5,858; 7. R.Newman, 5,786; 8. G.Biffle, 5,748; 9. D.Hamlin, 5,746; 10. C.Edwards, 5,685; 11. K.Kahne, 5,659; 12. B.Vickers, 5,568
Driver rating
A maximum of 150 points can be attained in a race. The formula combines the following: wins, finishes, top-15 finishes, average running position while on lead lap, average speed under green, fastest lap, led most laps, lead-lap finish.
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