Hamlin Spanks Busch Field, Then Plays Prank On JGR Crew Chief

BROOKLYN, Mich. — Denny Hamlin made a Buschwhacker Saturday look easy at Michigan Int’l Speedway, winning the Busch Series Carfax 250 in a car he had damaged in Friday practice.
Hamlin, a two-time winner in the Busch Series in 2007 in Joe Gibbs’s Rockwell Automation Chevrolet, bested runner-up Matt Kenseth in the Arby’s Ford by 6.998 seconds. Hamlin led 69 of the 125 laps, including the final 40.
“It was a downer for the crew that they had to fix the car,” Hamlin said. “There was a lot of damage, and I thought we’d have to go to the backup car. The guys did a great job of getting it ready.”
Admitting that his stellar performance appeared to bore his pit crew, Hamlin jokingly told them on the radio that he was out of gas.
“I made him jump up on the wall, I’m sure,” Hamlin said of crew chief Dave Rogers. “I guess it got them excited. It happened at Indianapolis, and it wasn’t so funny then.”
It was fun on the race track, except for one close call.
“I had a lot of fun racing Greg (Biffle) and Matt (Kenseth) at one point,” he said. “Greg and I got together once, and he hooked my bumper. He just wouldn’t let me have the spot. It’s a wonder we didn’t both crash.”
Hamlin said he was glad he finally won a Busch race on a big track to help reshape his image.
“A win on a mile-and-a-half or two-mile track is a big deal for this team,” he said. “I’m not just a short-track guy.”
For Kenseth, it was a good race that fell a little short.
“Denny and I were having a heck of a race there in the middle,” Kenseth said, “but we just didn’t adjust enough on the car on the last stop and didn’t get out of the pits quick enough. That was the difference.”
Point-leader Carl Edwards had problems for the third straight race, finishing 28th or lower in all three. Still, Edwards holds a 700-point lead over Kevin Harvick, who finished third Saturday.