Denny Hamlin Enjoys Martinsville Homecoming In Goody's Cool Orange 500

[PressRoom-GFN]

By Deb Williams

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (March 30, 2008) – Denny Hamlin held off a hard charging Jeff Gordon in Sunday's Goody's Cool Orange 500 to obtain a warm homecoming at his “home” track on an unusually chilly day at Martinsville Speedway.

Hamlin, a Chesterfield, Va., native, took the lead for good on lap 427 of the 500-lap race after making a gas-only pit stop on lap 388 during the 17th caution period. That left him fifth on the restart behind Jeff Burton, Brian Vickers Carl Edwards, and Casey Mears, respectively.

By the time the 18th and final caution period began on lap 404, Hamlin had moved into fourth. When the race returned to green-flag conditions on lap 412, Hamlin quickly moved towards the front. On lap 418, he dove to the inside of Edwards to claim third, then slipped underneath Vickers for second two laps later. Burton and Hamlin battled side-by-side for two laps before Hamlin finally assumed the lead.

With 30 laps remaining, Hamlin's advantage over the second-place Burton was less than a second. However, he possessed a 1.282-second lead over Edwards in second, and was 2.093 seconds ahead of the third-place Gordon. Shortly, thereafter, Gordon mounted his charge and passed Edwards. Then, on lap 493, when rookie Michael McDowell spun his Toyota, Gordon zipped under Burton and into second. No yellow flag appeared for McDowell's spin and with six laps remaining, Gordon trailed Hamlin by 1.334 seconds.

By the time Hamlin received the white flag, Gordon had closed to within three car lengths. However, he could get no closer.

“I am a little frustrated, but I'm just frustrated that last set of tires, for whatever reason, the adjustments we made or whatever, just didn't really work out for us,” Gordon said after the race that had 20 lead changes among eight drivers. “I know we had a great car today. But the second half of the race, we knew it was going to come down to pit strategy, whether we would get it done or not.

“With all the different circumstances of going all the way back to, whatever, 30th and coming back up through there, you got to be pretty pleased to come home second after a day like that.

“That was a really good Martinsville race. It was a lot of different passes and action and lead changes.”

Mike Ford, Hamlin's crew chief, said he knew after watching the truck race the previous day on the 0.526-mile track that track position would be more of an issue than tire wear. That's the reason he felt comfortable providing Hamlin's Toyota with only fuel on the team's final stop.

“It's the first tire that's a repeat from last year,” Ford explained. “I think it's the only tire that may be a repeat from last year. And, as far as looking back at past notes, it really correlated to last year.

“The one variable that didn't [correlate] was the temperature and the weather. But we knew last year, in previous races here, track position is more important than tires. A good indicator was the truck race yesterday. We watched the truck race and (Dennis) Setzer stayed on the same set of tires the whole race. We knew track position in that race was important; it always is here at Martinsville.

“So, 20 laps on tires isn't a huge falloff. We knew if we could gain a couple of seconds over the guys that had tires, from not having to fight as many lap cars, then we put the advantage back in our hand.”

Entering the event, Hendrick Motorsports had won four of the last five Martinsville races and on Sunday, Hendrick cars dominated the event, leading a total of 371 laps. But for Hamlin, who led three times for 82 laps, the victory lane he had sought throughout his career was now in his possession.

“I've raced here probably three times in the Late Model Series and they're 300 lappers or 200 lappers they run here each fall,” said Hamlin, who averaged 73.163 mph in the race slowed by 18 caution flags for 89 laps. “That's kind of that was our Super Bowl race, to come here to Martinsville. So this has always been a big race track to me.

“You know, when 120 Late Models showed up and we made the race for the first time when I was a rookie in the Late Model Series, that was a huge deal for me. So this track has always been my Super Bowl, I guess you could say.

“But it's a track where I have a lot of laps. Eventually, you start to figure out little things that can help you, help your car when it's not performing at its best to maybe try to make passes. I feel like having so many laps around this race track kind of helped me get from mid-pack to the front towards the end of that race. It's definitely special to finally break through here and get one of those (grandfather) clocks.”

Elliott Sadler, who was unable to qualify and practice his car due to a lower back injury, had Setzer standing by in his pit in case he needed relief. But the Emporia, Va., native went the distance, finishing 15th on the lead lap.

“I feel pretty good,” Sadler said after climbing from his Dodge. “My doctor [Dr. Mike Anderson] came up this weekend from home. That’s pretty special for him to come in here and get me all straightened this morning and loosened up like I needed to. I took a few Tylenol and I felt great during the race. I’m a little sore. I’ll definitely be feeling this in the morning. My back did not get any worse during the race; it stayed at the same level of soreness the whole time.”

In the driver standings, Burton's third-place finish gave him the points lead. After six races, Burton leads Richard Childress Racing teammate Kevin Harvick by 39 points.

NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series now moves to Texas Motor Speedway for the April 6 Samsung 500.

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