Hamlin Wins at New Hampshire- Just Like he Predicated

[media-credit name=”Noel Lanier” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Earlier this week Denny Hamlin told everyone via Twitter that he would win this week’s Sylvania 300 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The proclamation came after a disappointing finish in Chicago where he ran out of gas and lost valuable positions in the chase for the Sprint Cup. Hamlin definitely backed up his predication with a dominating win as Jimmie Johnson came in second by almost 3 seconds and pole-sitter Jeff Gordon finished third. With his win Hamlin moved up to third in points only seven points behind the new leader Jimmie Johnson who now leads Brad Keselowski by a single point.  Fellow chase participants Clint Bowyer and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top 5.

Hamlin’s weekend was somewhat disappointing when his qualifying efforts only secured him a 32ndstarting position.  On Sunday he was in the lead by lap 93 of the scheduled 300 lap event. From that point Hamlin dominated the race extending his lead to over six seconds at times. No one really challenged him for the lead although pit strategy did see Hamlin lose the lead in the pits, only to be out front in very short order. He led 193 of 300 laps securing the bonus point for leading the most laps.

“It doesn’t hurt to have a little confidence in the team,” Hamlin said. “I said we were fast enough to make it up, and we were. I’ll have these guys back until I die. Just our team. These are lightning-fast race cars they’re giving me.”  About his prediction he said, “You don’t want to sound too cocky, but I knew what we were capable of. Our car was extremely strong, and I have a really good knack for this race track. The two together, with a crew chief like Darian, it’s a winning combination.”

Jimmie Johnson said in the media center afterwards, “We just did all we could today.  We just missed a little bit of speed and the 11 seemed to have everybody covered.  And after that, we were the next‑best car and I just kind of ran there all day.”

Jeff Gordon in the media center was happy with his results, “Yeah, it was a great performance.  Certainly helped qualifying on the pole, getting that No. 1 pit stall.  That was important.  We had good pit stops, good pit calls and strategy and then good adjustments. We weren’t very good at the start of the race, but we hung in there with our track position and then we made an adjustment about halfway through the race that wasn’t very good for the short runs, but it seemed to maintain pretty good on the longer runs.  So allowed us to get up there into fourth and then that restart, we were able to jump into third.”

The race saw long green flag runs slowed only for a few caution periods all for debris on the race surface. The Sprint Cup Series will be in Dover Delaware next weekend.

Unofficial Race Results
Sylvania 300, New Hampshire
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=28
=========================================
Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
=========================================
1 32 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 48
2 20 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 43
3 1 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 42
4 12 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 40
5 6 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 40
6 15 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 39
7 3 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 38
8 18 20 Joey Logano Toyota 36
9 4 55 Brian Vickers Toyota 36
10 8 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 34
11 16 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 33
12 7 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 32
13 14 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 31
14 25 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 31
15 11 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 29
16 22 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 28
17 9 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 27
18 13 16 Greg Biffle Ford 26
19 5 99 Carl Edwards Ford 25
20 17 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 24
21 22 22 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 0
22 24 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 22
23 19 43 Aric Almirola Ford 21
24 21 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 20
25 23 51 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 19
26 29 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 18
27 28 83 Landon Cassill Toyota 17
28 2 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 17
29 26 34 David Ragan Ford 15
30 34 10 David Reutimann Chevrolet 14
31 33 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota 13
32 37 38 David Gilliland Ford 12
33 42 32 Mike Olsen Ford 11
34 39 33 Stephen Leicht * Chevrolet 10
35 43 30 David Stremme Toyota 9
36 30 13 Casey Mears Ford 9
37 31 98 Michael McDowell Ford 7
38 27 195 Scott Speed Ford 6
39 36 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 0
40 41 36 Tony Raines Chevrolet 4
41 40 37 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 3
42 35 191 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 0
43 38 179 Kelly Bires Ford 0

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

Ed Coombs
Ed Coombs
Ed began covering NASCAR for the former Gater Racing News regularly in 2000. He began working with Speedway Media in 2003 by supplying exclusive photos from the races covered. Currently he is the Editor and Assistant Publisher of Speedway Media. He also manages staff and credentialing. With the closing down of Gater News after nearly 50 years he hopes to become a more regular contributor at Speedway Media as a writer and photographer. My Twitter name is @coombsed feel free to follow me I am a member of the National Motorsports Press Association.

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