Hamlin One Step Closer to Hometown Dominance
May 3, 2008 by Tim Zaegel
Filed under Racing
Denny Hamlin won Friday night’s Lipton Tea 250 in the Nationwide Series by passing Kevin Harvick on lap 242 of the 253 lap race, and then held off the former Nationwide Series champ in a green-white-checkered finish. Hamlin’s lead prior to the lap 247 caution had opened up to more than two seconds, but he finished just 0.790 seconds ahead of Harvick after the two-lap dash to the finish.
The win makes Hamlin nearly perfect at his native tracks this year in Virginia. Denny won his first race of the season in April by winning the race in Martinsville, he won Friday’s Nationwide race in Richmond, and he will start Saturday night’s Sprint Cup race in Richmond from the pole position. The win also gives Joe Gibbs Racing five consecutive victories in the series.
For Harvick, it was a bit of disappointment despite finishing 2nd. He is still in search of his first win of the year, and more importantly, the first win while driving his own car for Kevin Harvick, Inc., and he almost had it – leading nearly a hundred consecutive laps before being passed by Hamlin with 11 laps to go. Kyle Busch had found himself a lap down earlier in the night, but was able to bounce back for a third place finish. He held off Steve Wallace on the final lap of the race, who finished fourth. David Ragan completed the top-five.
Nationwide points leader, Clint Bowyer, finished ninth, while his pursuer, Carl Edwards, finished two spots ahead in seventh. Edwards was able to gain a few more points on Bowyer in the standings and now trails first place by only nine points.
Nationwide Standings:
| RANK |
+/- |
DRIVER |
POINTS |
BEHIND |
STARTS |
POLES |
WINS |
TOP 5 |
TOP 10 |
| 1 |
– |
Clint Bowyer |
1565 |
Leader |
11 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
8 |
| 2 |
– |
Carl Edwards |
1556 |
-9 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
7 |
| 3 |
– |
Kyle Busch |
1553 |
-12 |
11 |
2 |
3 |
6 |
6 |
| 4 |
+2 |
David Ragan |
1434 |
-131 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
6 |
| 5 |
– |
Mike Bliss |
1424 |
-141 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
| 6 |
-2 |
David Reutimann |
1407 |
-158 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
5 |
| 7 |
– |
Brad Keselowski |
1382 |
-183 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
| 8 |
– |
Jason Leffler |
1342 |
-223 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
| 9 |
– |
Mike Wallace |
1297 |
-268 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
| 10 |
+3 |
David Stremme |
1177 |
-388 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
6 |
| 11 |
-1 |
Bobby Hamilton Jr. |
1167 |
-398 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| 12 |
-1 |
Kelly Bires |
1154 |
-411 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| 13 |
+3 |
Kevin Harvick |
1152 |
-413 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
6 |
| 14 |
-2 |
Jason Keller |
1150 |
-415 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 15 |
– |
Steve Wallace |
1144 |
-421 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| 16 |
-2 |
Marcos Ambrose |
1110 |
-455 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| 17 |
– |
Brad Coleman |
1020 |
-545 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| 18 |
– |
Kenny Wallace |
942 |
-623 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 19 |
+5 |
Scott Wimmer |
854 |
-711 |
6 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
| 20 |
+1 |
Kevin Lepage |
847 |
-718 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 21 |
-2 |
Dario Franchitti* |
825 |
-740 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| 22 |
– |
D.J. Kennington |
821 |
-744 |
11 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 23 |
-3 |
Tony Stewart |
806 |
-759 |
5 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
| 24 |
+6 |
Denny Hamlin |
795 |
-770 |
6 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
| 25 |
-2 |
Robert Richardson, II |
782 |
-783 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
So…I’m eager to read what you have to say about tonight’s race. (Well, last night, for me, since it’s after midnight now.) Needless to say, I popped a blood vessel or three in the last few laps.
Hey, Alicia … thanks for stopping by – always a pleasure to hear from you (and, also good to see you taking a break from the agonizing world of psychology). As you can see, my race summary is now up … and, yes, I may have suffered a mild stroke somewhere along the way.