This time at Martinsville Speedway, it was Denny Hamlin taking the
victory and the driver he had to keep at bay from sneaking in for the
win was Jimmie Johnson. When they came to the line to take the final
restart for what would be a green-white-checkered, Hamlin held the lead
position and the inside line, placing Johnson on the outside.
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Victory lane: race winner Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota celebrates. Photo by Action Sports Photography.
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In the springtime race on the 0.526-mile oval, Johnson scored the win after
nudging Hamlin out of the top spot on lap 484; but this time it was Hamlin
who took the lead from the Chase leader and ended up with the win over
Johnson who continues to hold the points lead as he aims for his fourth
consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.
"The only difference was it was double file restarts versus single file,"
Hamlin said in comparison to the race held in March. "You know, you
actually feel a little bit better with him (Johnson) being on the outside of
you than you do right behind you on a restart, because he's going to have to
if I can clear him, then he's going to have to deal with the guy running
third, and it looked like they kind of were mixing it up a little bit, so
that helped me stretch it out a little bit. I think that the double file
helps the guy leading versus the single file in the spring. So the single
file thing let him be closer to me coming off the first corner, where the
double file, believe it or not, let me stretch it out a little bit.
"I think it just shows that experience at this racetrack does matter. He
(Johnson) obviously did a great job. He was kind of my arch rival just as I
was getting out of late models, and he was the guy who always pushed you to
be a little bit better," added Hamlin.
Hamlin and the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team celebrated a much needed
win today in dry Virginia. "It feels great to get three wins this season,
the most we ever have had," smiled Hamlin who earned the ten bonus points
for leading the most laps; a total of 206.
With Saturday's practices rained out, the teams who did run race trim on
Friday after the morning rain delayed the first and only practice were
the lucky ones. Those who only ran qualifying setup had to deal with
changes in the early going. The Chase drivers, all 12 of them, apparently
were setup for the race but the deal with Martinsville, it does not
matter how great your setup is since the majority of the race looks more
like a contact sport. Today it definitely was one of side-to-side and
nose-to-tail bumping.
Hamlin had to hold off Johnson and several of the other Chasers, not
once but three times due to incidents that brought out the caution. His
pass for the lead came on lap 363 when he made a move on Johnson in Turn
1 while the two were running side-by-side for one entire lap. It was a
good show and a clean one even with a bit of the usual Martinsville bump and go move.
On the pass, Hamlin said ..."it was more just I had caught him from a ways
back, and I thought the code was you bump him once to let him know you're
there; two is get out of the way; and three is I'll move you. But it was 150
to go. We weren't going to get too rough. I think a lot of it was that he
was taking the corners so slow to try to make sure he stayed on the bottom
that I was just rolling the corner much, much faster than what he was. So it
just was bad timing more than it was anything. He would check up to make
sure he'd stay on the bottom, and meanwhile my car was rolling so good into
the center that I would try to keep my run going and throttle up early, and
by doing that I would get into him.
"I was in no way going to endanger him, knocking him out of the way or
anything like that, I was just tapping him making him think a little bit,
trying to make him make a mistake, or just get out of the way," Hamlin
continued.
Scott Speed brought out the 14th caution when he went wide on the high side
to make a pass and ended up in the Turn 1 wall. During the caution prior to
the final restart, several drivers including Mark Martin and Kyle Busch
headed to the pits mainly for new tires, minor repairs or quick adjustments.
Prior to the 14th caution, but not the final accident, the top 12 in the
Chase were running the show with positions usually in the top 15 on the
scoreboard.
When the leaders took the white flag, John Andretti spun and hit the outside
wall entering the final front straight but NASCAR officials, like they have
done once already since the Chase began, did not throw a caution, instead
they let the field race to the line to take the checkered flag when the put
out the caution on lap 501, the final lap of the race. It appeared that the
decision was made while Andretti was high in the line against the wall but
he still had momentum and got down in the low dirty line; thus not in harms
way.
The run for the start/finish line was at times three wide as drivers
jockeyed for positions. Like the March 29th race at Martinsville, the fans
who flocked to the track, even despite the prediction of rain today, were no
doubt glad they came to see the native Virginian take his seventh career
victory, his second one at Martinsville. Last night the fans celebrated
Timothy Peters' victory in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, who is also
from Virginia.
"It was good to see him (Peters) get his first win obviously at this
racetrack," said Hamlin. "I know it was big for him. He lives right down
the road from here. Congratulations to him. And I just think that it shows
that track time really goes a long way, especially at this racetrack."
Hendrick Motorsports' Johnson finished second and now leads the standings
with 6098 points to Mark Martin's 5980. Like in the past years, Johnson
seems to come alive in the Chase for the Cup final ten races. Before the
final restart, his crew chief Chad Knaus said ..."we will settle for second
today". Since the first of the final ten races at Loudon, Johnson has
finished no lower than fourth, except for the Kansas race. He has landed
three wins and now has one second place finish.
"At times we had a really fast car and the best car. The last runner, too, at
the end, the 11, had their stuff right. I was just a little too loose to do
anything with him. Over the long haul we were probably the second best car
the last two or three stops and finished where we should have, so I'm happy
with that," said Johnson.
"I was nervous with those restarts at the end. I hoped that I might have a
chance to get by Denny, but at the same time being stuck in that outside
lane there was so much too lose, I was really nervous about just getting to
the bottom and protecting the position I was in. All in all, a good day, and
I wish we could have won, but we just didn't have anything for the 11 on
that last run."
Juan Pablo Montoya slotted behind Johnson on the restart and swiftly made
the move to slide behind the points leader's Chevrolet in is Earnhardt
Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, snatching the third place finish out of the hands
of Jeff Gordon.
"It's so close, and when you've got a good car you can run anywhere.
Sometimes when you're like in the fourth or fifth row you can lose a row or
two; it happens. But it's okay, it's fun. I think it makes for the fans at a
place like here, side by side restarts with two laps to go, you can't ask
for much more," said Montoya on the double-file restarts on a short track.
Taking fifth was Gordon for the Hendrick team after Kyle Busch was able to
get past him also to garner fourth in his JGR's Toyota.
The best of the non-Hendrick and Gibbs teams was one of Roush Fenway Racing
Ford drivers, unfortunately not one of the two in the Chase battle but
definite good news for Jamie McMurray who ended sixth today.
Ryan Newman, the pole winner for the Stewart-Haas Racing team, had
his Chevrolet seventh at the line with Martin in another of the Hendrick
Chevrolets placing eighth. Rounding out the top ten were Kevin Harvick
(Richard Childress Racing) and team owner/driver Tony Stewart. The
final two handed Chevrolet seven of the top-10 placings.
Before the Cup teams head off to Talladega for the 33rd round this
season, the points tally with four races on the 2009 calendar show Jeff
Gordon in third, still adrift of teammates Johnson and Martin. Fourth is
held by Stewart followed by Montoya, Kurt Busch, Newman, Greg Biffle,
Hamlin, Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne and Brian Vickers.
