From MRN, by Pete Pistone :
Denny Hamlin made it back-to-back trips to Victory Lane in the Heluva Good Sour Cream Dips 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday and scored his first win of the 2011 Sprint Cup Series season.
Hamlin outran Matt Kenseth in a five-lap dash to the checkered flag on the day’s final restart to finally get into victory lane after leading the series with eight wins a year ago.
Hamlin won his 17th career race and first since taking the checkered flag at Texas Motor Speedway last November.
“It’s been a long time coming that’s for sure,” Hamlin said. “We have been working so hard to get this team back to victory lane and it all came together here today.”
Hamlin has been better in recent weeks but still not showing the championship-contending form he had a year ago. He entered Sunday’s race 12th in the point standings but moved to ninth after his win.
“This is the point of the season where we really need to start hitting our stride, and hopefully we’ve got another good 10 weeks before the Chase starts,” Hamlin said.
Kenseth was trying for his third win of the season but could not mount a charge to rundown Hamlin in the closing laps.
“I just couldn’t quite get Denny,” said Kenseth. “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.”
Kyle Busch, Paul Menard and Carl Edwards rounded out the Top 5.
Busch gave Joe Gibbs Racing finishes of first and third in the aftermath of NASCAR instructing the team to change oil pans before Friday’s practice. Those pans were not approved parts and NASCAR will announce its findings and possible penalties later this week.
Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Mark Martin and Brian Vickers completed the first ten finishers.
The race featured 21 lead changes among 12 drivers and was slowed by only five cautions for a total of 18 laps.
The last caution flew when Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was trying to end a three-year winless drought at Michigan where he won his last race in June of 2008, hit the wall after contact from teammate Martin.
Earnhardt, who wound up 21st, was not pleased with the turn of events.
“He knew I was up there,” said Earnhardt. “He was just running hard. If the tables were turned I’d been smarter and given him plenty of room than he gave me. He’s older than me and been racing forever and knows a lot more (stuff) … and he’s forgot more stuff than I’ll ever know. Still I take better care of people than that.”
It was also not a good day for five-time champion Jimmie Johnson who spun out on lap eight and wound up falling two laps behind when he came to pit road for repairs. Johnson was never a factor and wound up 27th in the final rundown remaining winless in his career at Michigan.
Carl Edwards increased his Sprint Cup Series point lead to 20 over Kevin Harvick with Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch and Johnson the Top 5.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series now heads to Infineon Raceway for next Sunday’s first road course race of the season the Toyota/SaveMart 350.
