Hamlin has a ‘Heluva Good!’ race at Michigan
Denny Hamlin held off Matt Kenseth in the final laps on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway for his first win of the season and 17th of his career.
“Today, we didn’t look as strong as we normally do here, but we got it going there at the end.” Hamlin said.
“We finished — that’s the thing. We got it done. Happy for all this team. They all got sons or daughters and everything, so it’s a big Father’s Day for all them and my dad, Dennis. He paved the way for me to get here, so I can’t thank them enough and all the fathers out there.” Hamlin added.
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[/media-credit]Kenseth made a final run on Hamlin in the closing laps but was unable to get close enough to make a move. On the final turn on the final lap he almost lost it and got sideways before crossing the finish line.
“I just couldn’t quite get Denny. After restarts we were kind of slow and tight in the middle which isn’t a good thing to be in a short shootout. We had a great car in the long run though. I tried what I could to get around him but I slipped on the restart. I just needed more laps to get it going.” Kenseth said.
Kyle Busch finished third, Paul Menard fourth and Carl Edwards finished fifth.
Edwards appeared to have the race won if the race stayed green. Edwards was leading when a late caution flag came out when Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran into the wall, forcing a caution flag with only nine laps remaining.
“This is a great race track and track position is so important. Sadly, down force is such a big factor in these cars and I am really hoping that NASCAR will take the opportunity in 2013 to take down force away so the fans can see the guys race, race cars and not race down force. That would be cool.” Edwards said.
Edwards’ top-5 finish increased his Sprint Cup Series points lead to 20.
Menard started ninth and had a strong car all day. Menard got his first top-5 finish at Michigan and also his best finish so far this season.
“The guys gave me some good pit stops and the last one we kind of went back and forth about whether to take two (tires) or four and ‘Slugger’ (Labbe, crew chief) made the right call to take two. Clean air is so important. I was still a little bit too tight at the end but we definitely needed a good run and we got one today.” Menard said.
Earnhardt Jr. was forced into the outside wall by teammate Mark Martin. With less than 10-laps to go, Earnhardt Jr. brought out the final caution flag of the day when he hit the outside wall after his tire blew from the earlier contact with the wall. He finished 21st but still holds third place in the standings.
“I don’t like putting up with carelessness. I try really hard not to be careless and that really pissed me off what happened out there.” Earnhardt Jr. said.
“I don’t have a history of having problems. I don’t think I have one now. I think we will get it sorted out. I feel like I give everybody on the race track respect. I made a mistake.” Martin said.
Last week’s winner, Jeff Gordon started 31st. Gordon battled an ill-handling race car most of the race and finished 17th.
Jimmie Johnson spun on lap eight, causing front end suspension damage that put the team two-laps down early. Johnson finished 27th and fell three positions to fifth in the standings.
“We got turned around early and ground the sway bar off the right front and we lost a couple laps from that and we were just kind of in a hole at that point and couldn’t get caught back up. Its just part of it.” Johnson said.
The Sprint Cup Series goes to Infineon Raceway next weekend for the season’s first road course race of the year.
| Unofficial Race Results | |||||
| Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400, Michigan International Speedway | |||||
| http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=15 | |||||
| ========================================= | |||||
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Make | Points | |
| ========================================= | |||||
| 1 | 10 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 47 |
| 2 | 3 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | 43 |
| 3 | 24 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 42 |
| 4 | 9 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | 41 |
| 5 | 23 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | 40 |
| 6 | 13 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 39 |
| 7 | 6 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | 37 |
| 8 | 27 | 33 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | 36 |
| 9 | 19 | 5 | Mark Martin | Chevrolet | 35 |
| 10 | 4 | 83 | Brian Vickers | Toyota | 34 |
| 11 | 1 | 22 | Kurt Busch | Dodge | 34 |
| 12 | 12 | 51 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 13 | 26 | 43 | A.J. Allmendinger | Ford | 31 |
| 14 | 22 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | 31 |
| 15 | 7 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 31 |
| 16 | 17 | 21 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 0 |
| 17 | 31 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | 27 |
| 18 | 30 | 20 | Joey Logano | Toyota | 26 |
| 19 | 14 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | 25 |
| 20 | 20 | 6 | David Ragan | Ford | 24 |
| 21 | 15 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | 23 |
| 22 | 16 | 47 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | 23 |
| 23 | 18 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | 21 |
| 24 | 33 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | 20 |
| 25 | 41 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | 19 |
| 26 | 11 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 18 |
| 27 | 21 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 17 |
| 28 | 8 | 4 | Kasey Kahne | Toyota | 16 |
| 29 | 40 | 34 | David Gilliland | Ford | 15 |
| 30 | 25 | 42 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | 14 |
| 31 | 28 | 38 | Travis Kvapil | Ford | 0 |
| 32 | 35 | 32 | Mike Bliss | Ford | 0 |
| 33 | 5 | 78 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | 11 |
| 34 | 42 | 36 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | 10 |
| 35 | 2 | 0 | David Reutimann | Toyota | 9 |
| 36 | 36 | 71 | Andy Lally * | Ford | 8 |
| 37 | 37 | 7 | Robby Gordon | Dodge | 7 |
| 38 | 39 | 13 | Casey Mears | Toyota | 7 |
| 39 | 34 | 46 | J.J. Yeley | Chevrolet | 5 |
| 40 | 29 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | 0 |
| 41 | 32 | 30 | David Stremme | Chevrolet | 3 |
| 42 | 43 | 181 | Scott Riggs | Chevrolet | 0 |
| 43 | 38 | 66 | Michael McDowell | Toyota | 1 |
Franchitti wins at Milwaukee; ties Rick Mears for 9th on wins list
Dario Franchitti scored his 29th IZOD IndyCar Series career victory Sunday at Milwaukee. The win ties him with IndyCar legend Rick Mears for ninth on the all-time major open wheel racing victory list. The victory also led Franchitti to a tie with Will Power, who finished fourth, on top of the driver points standings. They will entire Iowa Speedway next week with 271 points each.
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“Then Tony (Kanaan) came marching along and he looked really, really strong, and he gave me a hard time as usual. Great day. To win here at Milwaukee is always special. It’s such hard work and a such a hard race. It’s a delight for the Target Team and we got the Downy colors in Victory Lane.”
Graham Rahal finished second.
“It felt great out there,” Rahal said. “The Service Central boys just did a great job. [We’re] knocking on the door [referring to getting his first win]. We’re getting closer … it’s going to come one of these days.”
Oriol Servia, Power and Danica Patrick rounded out the top five finishers in the race. James Hinchcliffe, Scott Dixon, Takuma Soto, Helio Castroneves and Justin Wilson rounded out the top-ten.
“A couple double file restarts were good for me, a couple were bad,” Power said. “I’m pretty happy to get the Verizon car up there. I guess we are equal on points now. Good job by Dario. He came back after Texas to teach us a lesson, so I guess we will have to be quick at Iowa.
“We just have to keep fighting away, keep having good days like this and make no mistakes and we’ll be good.”
Castroneves was leading late in the race, but had to pit under the final caution with about 20 laps to go after tire pressure in his left rear tire fell to just over three pounds-per-square-inch.
The Iowa IndyCorn 250 is the next race on the schedule, and is scheduled for Saturday, June 25 with the race beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
Franchitti captured the pole for the race, which also put him into a tie for ninth place with Paul Tracy for all-time IndyCar Series poles. It was his 25th career pole.
IZOD IndyCar Series
Milwaukee 225
WEST ALLIS, Wis. – Results Sunday of the Milwaukee 225 IZOD IndyCar Series event on the 1.015 mile Milwaukee Mile, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (1) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
2. (12) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
3. (10) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
4. (17) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
5. (15) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
6. (16) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
7. (3) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
8. (5) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
9. (2) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
10. (13) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
11. (8) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
12. (20) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
13. (9) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
14. (21) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 224, Running
15. (23) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 223, Running
16. (25) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 223, Running
17. (11) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Honda, 222, Running
18. (19) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 196, Running
19. (4) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 194, Contact
20. (6) EJ Viso, Dallara-Honda, 163, Contact
21. (18) JR Hildebrand, Dallara-Honda, 120, Contact
22. (14) Alex Lloyd, Dallara-Honda, 79, Contact
23. (24) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Honda, 78, Contact
24. (22) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 69, Mechanical
25. (26) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Honda, 11, Handling
26. (7) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 0, Contact
Race Statistics
Winners average speed: 117.390
Time of Race: 01:56:43.5877
Margin of victory: 1.4271 seconds.
Cautions: 6 for 62 laps
Lead changes: 5 among 3 drivers
Lap Leaders: Franchitti 1 – 115, Kanaan 116 – 134, Franchitti 135 – 153, Kanaan 154 – 167, Castroneves 168 – 198, Franchitti 199 – 225
Point Standings: Power 271, Franchitti 271, Servia 198, Dixon 195, Rahal 176, Kanaan 171, Briscoe 165, Tagliani 147, Sato 142, Patrick 141.
