Hamlin dominates at end to win at Martinsville

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Denny Hamlin didn’t need to do anything funny to exact his revenge from 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, ending the three-time defending series champion’s remarkable run of five trips to Victory Lane in the previous six races at the shortest circuit in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series.

Hamlin used an out-of-sequence pit stops 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 versus 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 paper clip-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 over 70 laps to go, radio chatter indicted that the teams were fast approaching pit stops under green, a Martinsville rarity.

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.

Sunday at Martinsville Speedway

Martinsville Va.

Lap length:.526 miles

(Start position in parentheses)

1. (17) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 501 laps, 131.7 rating, 195 points, $189,500.

2. (15) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 501, 135.5, 175, $169,526.

3. (21) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 501, 122.7, 170, $143,298.

4. (41) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 501, 95.4, 165, $138,698.

5. (2) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 501, 110.7, 160, $126,351.

6. (23) Jamie McMurray, Ford, 501, 85.2, 150, $97,950.

7. (1) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 501, 109.6, 151, $122,004.

8. (4) Mark Martin, Chevrolet, 501, 113.5, 147, $89,350.

9. (13) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 501, 98.2, 138, $99,923.

10. (10) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 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, Chevrolet, 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, Chevrolet, 501, 82.2, 109, $90,175.

19. (19) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 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, Chevrolet, accident, 499, 47.5, 90, $81,375.

27. (34) Marcos Ambrose, Toyota, 499, 42.6, 82, $87,673.

28. (3) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 499, 67.6, 79, $108,940.

29. (12) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 499, 66.2, 76, $87,825.

30. (36) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 497, 39.4, 73, $80,750.

31. (18) Scott Speed, Toyota, accident, 495, 48.7, 70, $81,698.

32. (26) Kasey Kahne, Dodge, 494, 51.8, 67, $111,973.

33. (11) David Stremme, Dodge, rear end, 439, 51.9, 64, $102,890.

34. (16) AJ Allmendinger, Dodge, 414, 56, 61, $70,300.

35. (38) Sterling Marlin, Dodge, brakes, 355, 40.3, 58, $69,300.

36. (31) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, accident, 248, 55, 55, $88,010.

37. (33) Robby Gordon, Toyota, drive shaft, 130, 40, 52, $87,960.

38. (28) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, overheating, 52, 28.8, 49, $69,150.

39. (35) David Gilliland, Chevrolet, brakes, 48, 31.4, 51, $69,100.

40. (39) Dave Blaney, Toyota, overheating, 38, 29.8, 43, $69,050.

41. (42) Michael McDowell, Toyota, brakes, 36, 27.8, 40, $69,000.

42. (43) Derrike Cope, Toyota, brakes, 31, 26.4, 37, $68,940.

43. (25) Travis Kvapil, Dodge, brakes, 30, 35, 34, $68,523.

Race Statistics

Average Speed of Race 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): D.Hamlin 3 times for 206 laps; 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.

Top 12 in Points

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.

NASCAR Driver Rating Formula

A maximum of 150 points can be attained in a race.

The formula combines the following categories: Wins Finishes Top-15 Finishes Average Running Position While on Lead Lap Average Speed Under Green Fastest Lap Led Most Laps Lead-Lap Finish.