Tempers Flare, Hamlin wins at Bristol

[media-credit name=”David Yeazell” align=”alignright” width=”242″][/media-credit]After three previous races during the first weekend on the “new” Bristol surface, everyone was still uncertain what the annual Bristol night race would bring to the NASCAR Sprint Cup series. Denny Hamlin found the right groove, was in the right position, and drove a great race to get his third win of the season and his first at the famed Bristol Motor Speedway.

After eight laps with polesitter Casey Mears leading the way, caution number one of the night came out for Ken Schrader when he spun. Nobody pitted on that caution. After bringing out a previous caution, Sam Hornish Jr. brought out another caution. During the pit stops, Juan Montoya took only two tires and was able to keep his track position up inside the top ten.

Throughout the whole night, the very high line was the place to be. Some cars, including Hamlin and Clint Bowyer, were able to run the bottom line and pass other cars, but mostly everyone else ran the top most of the night.

On lap 148, David Ragan spun out and laid down some oil on the track. The leader at the time, Kasey Kahne, slipped in the oil and got into the wall with his right side. He came into the pits to repair some damage and ended up losing a lap. He rebounded to finish in ninth place.

On the restart on lap 158, everyone who pitted on that caution was clumped into the middle of the field because the field was on two different pit strategies.

A few laps after the restart, Montoya and Ryan Newman had some contact and it sent Newman into the inside retaining wall. Jeff Burton was also involved. Burton had such a great run going for him. That’s pretty much been the story of his season.

“I saw Ryan (Newman) got in trouble and he started spinning. He looked like he was going to stay against the wall, and so I committed to the bottom and then he started in and I couldn’t get turned back to the right. It was pretty disappointing.” Burton said.

On lap 206, Hamlin took the lead away from Dale Earnhardt Jr. That was the first time Hamlin was out front and we truly saw how fast his car was. After a couple more cautions involving Aric Amorila and Brad Keselowski, Johnson took over the top spot.

On lap 322, Kurt Busch and Regan Smith got together and brought out another caution.

Now, here’s when things start to get interesting.

Battling for the lead on the restart, Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart made some contact and both of them went into the wall. Stewart “Smoke” was furious. Stewart then waited for Kenseth to come down pit road and once he did, he threw his helmet at the hood of Kenseth’s car.

“I was expecting it. I’ve seen that for awhile. I was expecting it and it didn’t really bother me. It wasn’t gonna hurt it any worse.” Kenseth said about Stewart throwing the helmet at his car.

“We weren’t that great of a race car. But we were definitely faster than that after that restart. I checked-up twice to not run over him (Kenseth) and I learned my lesson there; I’m going to run over him every chance I’ve got from now ‘til the end of the year……. every chance I’ve got.” Stewart said.

With 100 laps to go, the running order was Martin Truex Jr., Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Edwards and Kevin Harvick.

On lap 413, Casey Mears brought out a caution. The leaders pitted and they were all good to go till the finish. Except for Carl Edwards., his crew chief called him in to pit, but he didn’t come in. He would need to stretch his fuel.

“I made the decision to stay out, which in hindsight that was the wrong decision because we probably would have finished better than we are right now, but I wanted a chance to win the race.” Edwards said.

On lap 434, Danica Patrick was turned by Regan Smith. Patrick was running pretty well and was on the lead lap at Bristol in her first time there racing in the Sprint Cup Series.

“We’re all racing hard. This is Bristol and this is why people love this track is because you see a lot of that and you see tempers flare. It’s usually part of the broadcast and when they describe what’s going to happen. It was just a bummer because I really felt like the GoDaddy car was going to get a solid, maybe a top 20 finish and on the lead lap.” Patrick said.

With 38 laps to go, Hamlin took the lead from Edwards on a slide job move. It was all smooth sailing from there.

After the win, crew chief Darian Grubb said, “It was a great night. […] A great team effort and a great racecar.” In victory lane, Hamlin said, “I can’t even tell you. This is my biggest win. It just hauled the mail. This is just a big win, I don’t know how else to explain it. […] Were not done winning yet. Big day, big win.”

This was win No.200 for car number 11, and it was one of the most special.

Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Jr. also clinched spots in the chase for the sprint cup.

The crowd at Bristol was huge, and I’m sure that they enjoyed a great, old school Bristol beatin’ an bangin’ race.