Race winner Denny Hamlin does a burnout for the fans. More pix at the end of this page...

Hamlin Enjoys Busch Series Repeat at Darlington
By Reid Spencer, Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

DARLINGTON, S.C. (May 11, 2007) -- In a six-lap green-flag run to the finish, polesitter Denny Hamlin pulled away from Carl Edwards and Mark Martin to win Friday night's Diamond Hill Plywood 200 NASCAR Busch Series race at Darlington Raceway.

The victory was Hamlin's third in the series and his first since he won from the pole at Darlington last year.

Martin, driving the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, got by Edwards in the closing laps to take second place. Edwards, the series' runaway leader by 433 points over Kevin Harvick, came home third, followed Richard Childress Racing teammates Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer.

Jason Leffler, Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Casey Mears and Kevin Harvick completed the top 10.

With the win at the track known as the "Lady in Black," Hamlin continues to excel at difficult, quirky tracks. He has two Busch Series wins at egg-shaped Darlington and two Nextel Cup victories at Pocono – a triangular track.

"I think a lot of it is that I'm more on a level playing field with other guys I'm racing against," Hamlin said. "It's not easy to figure out these racetracks. If you get a standard oval, guys that have been running there for 10 years, they figure out how to get around there, and they learn all the tricks.

"I feel like I'm more on a level playing field with these guys when we come to these different racetracks. No one's really figured out how to get around these racetracks -- there is no perfect way. And I think that kind of plays into my hands."

The final six laps followed a stoppage of three minutes, 33 seconds for Bobby Labonte's hard nose-first crash into the inside frontstretch wall. Hamlin led Edwards and Martin to the restart on Lap 142 and pulled away as the two cars behind him battled for the second spot.

"That was one of the best racecars I've driven in a while," said Martin, who had difficulty adjusting to the car in practice and had to make his way forward from the 26th starting position. "To drive that No. 5 Rick Hendrick car and to see the heart and soul that went into that effort -- I'm disappointed that I didn't close the deal for them. They gave me the stuff to do it with, but I didn't quite get it done tonight."

A sorely needed caution on Lap 112 -- caused by a wreck involving Matt Kenseth and Brad Kesolowski -- allowed the leaders to pit under caution for fresh tires.

Approximately half the lead-lap cars had run 67 circuits without new rubber, and the seventh caution of the race bunched the field with Hamlin in the lead and Edwards in second place for a Lap 118 restart.

After a subsequent caution for a collision between the cars of David Reutimann and Paul Menard on Lap 121, the field restarted on Lap 126, and on lap later, Martin passed Burton for third. Two more cautions, including the record-tying 10th brought out by Labonte's crash, set up the final green-flag run.

Checkered Flag Fast Facts

• Clint Bowyer won the Circuit City 250 presented by FUNAI, his fifth victory in 94 NASCAR Busch Series races.
• This is his first victory and third top-10 finish in five races at Richmond International Raceway.
• Bowyer has won twice in the seven NASCAR Busch Series races he has competed in this season. This is his fifth top-10 finish of the season.
• This is car owner Richard Childress’ fourth consecutive NASCAR Busch Series victory at Richmond. His other three wins all were captured by Kevin Harvick.
• Matt Kenseth finished second,1.483 seconds behind Bowyer. It is his sixth top-10 finish in his eight NASCAR Busch Series race this season.
• Carl Edwards (13th) retained the lead in the NASCAR Busch Series point standings and is now 402 points ahead of Kevin Harvick.

Related News

5/9: Entry List (PDF)

5/11: Rookie Practice Speed Chart (PDF)

5/11: First Practice Speed Chart (PDF)

5/11: Final Practice Speed Chart (PDF)

5/11: Qualifying Order (PDF)

5/11: Qualifying Results (PDF)

5/11: Starting Lineup (PDF)

5/11: Race Results (PDF)

5/11: Point Standings (PDF)

Green Flag Fast Facts
The Race: Diamond Hill Plywood 200
The Place: Darlington Raceway
The Date: May 11, 20071
The Time: 8:30 p.m. (ET)
TV: ESPN2, 8:00 p.m. (ET); TSN, 11.30 p.m. (ET)
Track Layout: 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval
Race Purse: $1,088,013
2006 Winner: Denny Hamlin
2006 Pole: Denny Hamlin
Schedule (local time/ET): Thur., May 10 – 3:30 – 4:10 p.m., Rookie Practice; 4:20 – 5:20 p.m., Practice, 6:30 – 7:30 p.m., Practice; Fri., May 11 – Qualifying 5:05 p.m. (Impound).
Pre-Race Point Standings: click here (PDF)

Television

Qualifying: Friday, May 11 (SPEED at 6 p.m./AT, 5 p.m./ET)

Race: Friday, May 11 (ESPN2 at 9:30 p.m./AT, 8:30 p.m./ET)(TSN at 11:30 p.m./ET)

Pre-Race Notes

• It’s taken 25 years, 47 wins, 30 poles and over 220 starts but Mark Martin (No. 5 Hendrick Autoguard/ Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet) and owner Rick Hendrick (24 years, 22 wins, 35 poles) have finally teamed up in NASCAR Busch Series competition. Martin, the series’ all-time leader in wins and poles – who was voted No. 1 among the 25 Greatest NASCAR Busch Series Drivers by media and fans last year – is also the series’ best at Darlington Raceway with eight wins and eight poles. So the partnership – the first of three events at which the NASCAR icons will work together – has the potential to be a successful debut. “That No. 5 means something to me,” Martin said. “I remember the No. 5 when it was first getting started –when it was All-Star Racing on the side and Rick was a car dealer getting into NASCAR. It’s cool. This is stuff that’s history. And the older you get, the more history means to you.” Hendrick’s NASCAR Busch Series driver list that contains such names as Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Tim Richmond and Kyle Busch, can now include Martin. “When I look back at the end of the day and we look at the wins we have and the people that have been part of it,” Hendrick said, “I think it’s going to be really neat to have Mark’s name on that list.”
• Twice As Nice: For Shane Huffman (No. 88 U.S. NAVY Chevrolet), things are better in twos. The JR Motorsports team will be taking chassis No. 022 to Darlington. It’s been run twice thus far in 2007 and Huffman posted two top-10 finishes in it.
• Sponsor Helped Start Mother’s Day: Braun Racing drivers Dave Blaney (No. 10 Camping World Toyota) and Jason Leffler (No. 38 Great Clips Toyota) will sport associate sponsorship from the Fraternal Order of Eagles (FOE) this weekend. An idea by a member of that group over 100 years ago led to Mother’s Day. Frank Hering had the idea for a special day that would provide formal recognition for mothers. In 1904, he verbalized publicly his idea of a "national day of honor for Mothers” but it would take 10 years for it to become a reality. Legislation was introduced in the U.S. Congress in 1914, requesting a presidential proclamation making the second Sunday in May Mother's Day throughout the country. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed May 10, 1914 the first official Mother's Day.
• Big Week For Owen: Keeping with the Braun Racing Mother’s Day theme, Trent Owen, Blaney’s crew chief and nephew of the great Richard Petty, is preparing to become a father for the second time. His wife is scheduled to give birth to a boy on May 8th. It adds to the big weekend for Owen, who is from Darlington, S.C. This is his first fulltime season as crew chief, but he also acted as crew chief last year for Blaney for seven races, including the fall race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway where both got their first series win.
• Final Test Of Season Upcoming: The NASCAR Busch Series will have an open week next weekend before resuming racing at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on May 26, but the series’ last of four scheduled test sessions for 2007 will be held at Lowe’s May 14-15. The test will be the second on a 1.5-mile track – teams tested at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in early February. NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series teams will also be testing the Car of Tomorrow at Dover International Speedway those same days.
• Bowyer Makes Big Leap: Clint Bowyer (No. 2 BB&T Chevrolet) collected his second win in the last three races with his victory at Richmond last Friday night. The win allowed him to make a 10-place jump in the points to 15th; he’s now 77 points out of 10th place. Standings leader Carl Edwards (No. 60 Scotts Ford) finished 13th at Richmond, the first time this season he did not register a top-10 finish.

Photo Gallery - Friday, May 11


Pole sitter and race winner Denny Hamlin leads a pack of cars during the race.


Hamlin honours Virginia Tech in Victory Lane...

IMPORTANT: All information, schedules and/or scheduled events is/are subject to change without notice. Please check with the source to confirm.