Denny Hamlin wins the Heluva Good 400 and his first win of 2011 season
Credit: Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR |
Racing at Michigan is a battle between the big 3 auto manufacturers – Ford, Chevy and Dodge with bragging rights going to the race winner. As the saying goes, win on Sunday, sell on Monday. Today they were shut out for a win by the Toyota Camry of Denny Hamlin, though Hamlin was not the dominant car of the race.
The Ford camp again showed they are the team to beat this year, Greg Biffle led for 68 laps, Carl Edwards for 30 and Matt Kenseth for 17. Before the final caution (Dale Jr’s accident) the race was in control of Edwards, having a lead over Hamlin by 2-3 seconds at times. Upon the caution, teams pitted for a splash of fuel to avoid the typical fuel mileage race and some teams opted for 2 or 4 tires as well. That set Hamlin up to lead the restart and from there he was off, positions jockeyed behind him but he remained steadfast in the lead. This was Hamlin’s first win on the season.
Race highlights:
- Lap 9 – caution #1 for Jimmie Johnson spinning in the backstretch after possible contact with AJ Allmendinger
- Lap 13 – Greg Biffle takes the lead
- Lap 28 – caution #2 Debris from Robby Gordon hitting the wall
- Lap 85 – caution #3 Brad Keselowski blows a tire in turn 1
- Lap 100 – Kyle Busch takes the lead
- Lap 120 - Martin Truex Jr. gets a pit road penalty after missing a lug nut, requiring him to pit a second time
- David Reutimann heads to the garage – multiple problems (started p.2 finished p. 35)
- Lap 160 – caution #4 Juan Pablo Montoya tried to pull onto pit road and hits Andy Lally causing heavy damage to Lally.
- Lap 192 – caution #5 and the final one Dale Earnhardt Jr. hits the wall in the backstretch after blowing a tire following contact with teammate Mark Martin
- Denny Hamlin
- Matt Kenseth
- Kyle Busch
- Paul Menard
- Carl Edwards
- Ryan Newman
- Tony Stewart
- Clint Bowyer
- Mark Martin
- Bran Vickers
- Kurt Busch
- Landon Cassill
- AJ Allmendinger
- Kevin Harvick
- Greg Biffle
- Trevor Bayne
- Jeff Gordon
- Joey Logano
- Jamie McMurray
- David Ragan
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Bobby Labonte
- Marcos Ambrose
- Jeff Burton
- Brad Keselowski
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Jimmie Johnson
- Kasey Kahne
- David Gilliland
- Juan Pablo Montoya
- Travis Kvapil
- Mike Bliss
- Regan Smith
- Dave Blaney
- David Reutimann
- Andy Lally
- Robby Gordon
- Casey Mears
- JJ Yeley
- Joe Nemechek
- David Stremme
- Scott Riggs
- Michael McDowell
Next week the circuit heads west to California wine country to make left and right turns on the road course of Infineon.
Denny Hamlin wins the Heluva Good 400 and his first win of 2011 season
Reviewed by Unknown
on
Sunday, June 19, 2011
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