Saturday, September 22 Dover Int'l Speedway Dover, Delaware

Denny Hamlin poses with (like) the monster on his trophy after winning the Busch Series race at "The Monster Mile."

Hamlin Battles Through Flu, Wins At Dover
By Reid Spencer, Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

DOVER, Del. (September 22, 2007) -- Fighting off the effects of the flu, Denny Hamlin passed Martin Truex Jr. with 14 laps left in the RoadLoans.com 200 NASCAR Busch Series race on Saturday at Dover International Speedway and pulled away to win his third race of the season.

Hamlin, who had to take on fluids intravenously before the race, pitted for four tires and fuel under caution on Lap 167. He restarted eighth on Lap 170 and gained two positions before the caution flag flew for a track-record-tying 13th time because of AJ Allmendinger's spin in Turn 2 on Lap 171.

After the race restarted on Lap 175, Hamlin picked off the five cars ahead of him, passing third-place finisher Matt Kenseth for second on Lap 183 and Truex, the race runner-up, in a drag race through Turns 3 and 4 on Lap 186.

Hamlin beat Truex to the finish line by 1.797 seconds to claim his fifth career NASCAR Busch Series victory. Mike Bliss finished fourth, and Reed Sorenson came home fifth.

Series points leader Carl Edwards, rookie Brad Keselowski, veteran Jason Keller, polesitter Greg Biffle and David Reutimann completed the top 10. Keselowski tied his career best finish while Keller came within one start of tying Tommy Houston’s series record of 417. He’ll go for that mark next weekend at Kansas.

"I need a nap," Hamlin said after climbing from his No. 20 Chevrolet in victory lane. "I hated to stay in it and maybe risk tomorrow (in Sunday's NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race), but I don't think I did.

"When the car handles that well, you're able to find something down in you that maybe you can't normally find."

Truex's car started out tight, and with the spate of cautions that interrupted the action, the No. 8 Chevy couldn't take advantage of its strength on long runs.

"We almost pulled one off there, but we didn't have the car to hold off the 20," said Truex, who stayed on the track and inherited the lead when Hamlin pitted on Lap 167. "Our car was off all day, but we did pretty well with what we had."

With enough carnage on the racetrack to cause 13 cautions, Dover produced its customary share of raw emotion. After Robby Gordon clipped the No. 33 Chevrolet of Tony Raines on Lap 58 and turned the car into the wall, Raines climbed from his car under caution and threw his helmet at Gordon's No. 27 Ford.

"I want to thank RoadLoans.com for sponsoring (my) racecar and sponsoring the race," Raines said. "Unfortunately, they can't keep idiots like Robby Gordon from driving in the race."

To his credit, Gordon took responsibility for the accident after spinning his own car in Turn 2 on Lap 93.

Jason Leffler wasn't as gracious in his criticism of Richard Johns, after the two wrecked on a restart on Lap 141. Running consistently in the top five before the crash, Leffler said it was a shame to be wrecked by a driver "who doesn't have the credentials to be in the Busch Series."

With Scott Wimmer finishing 32 laps down in 29th place, Edwards' Roush Fenway Ford regained the lead in the race for the NASCAR Busch Series owners' championship by 39 points over the No. 29 of Richard Childress Racing.

See the Event Stats section following for complete race results and point standings. Schedule/Broadcast Times

Practice: Friday, September 21 (SPEED at 2:30 p.m./AT, 1:30 p.m./ET)

Qualifying: Saturday, September 22 (SPEED at 1 P.M./AT, 12 p.m./ET)

Pre-Race Show: Saturday, September 22 (ESPN2 & TSN-HD at 4 p.m./AT, 3 p.m./ET)

Race: Saturday, September 22 (ESPN2 & TSN-HD at 4:30 p.m./AT, 3:30 p.m./ET)

Event Stats PDF files unless otherwise noted

Entry List

Qualifying Results

Race Results

Point Standings

Green Flag Fast Facts
The Race: RoadLoans.com 200
The Place: Dover International Speedway
The Date: Sept. 22, 20071
Track Layout: 1-mile oval
Race Purse: $1,127,483
2006 Winner: Clint Bowyer
2006 Pole: Scott Riggs
Pre-Race Schedule (local track time): Friday – Practice, 9–10:10 a.m.; Rookie Practice, 10:20-10:50 a.m.; Final Practice, 1:50–3:00 p.m. Saturday – Qualifying, 12:05 p.m.
Year-To-Date Standings: click here

Track Map



Green Flag Notes

• Carl Edwards (No. 60 World Financial Group Ford), the series driver standings leader, is also in the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup and can become the first driver in national series history to hold both titles in the same season. Bobby Labonte (No. 77 Dollar General Chevrolet) is the only driver to claim championships in both series, but did so in different years. He won the NASCAR Busch Series title in 1991 and the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup crown in 2000. Kevin Harvick was the first to have the opportunity. The reigning series champion finished fourth in the Chase in 2006. Despite a stout lead in the driver point rankings, Edwards and his No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing team are seeking a slump-buster. Set to make his 100th career series start this weekend, Edwards hasn’t won since consecutive victories at Dover and Nashville Superspeedway in June. But he’s back on concrete, a surface that has produced each of his four wins this year. In his last 13 races, Edwards has no wins and has finished 20th or worse six times although he bounced back with a second-place finish at Richmond International Raceway two weeks ago. He’s failed to finish on the lead lap in four of the last six races. His team also is in a battle for the owner title with the No. 29 Richard Childress Racing Holiday Inn Chevrolet to be driven at Dover by Scott Wimmer. The No. 29 is 40 points up on the No. 60.
• Should Jason Keller (No. 11 Investlinc Ford) qualify for Saturday’s race, he’ll not only stand one start closer to breaking Tommy Houston’s all-time series record of 417, but he’ll also become the all-time leader in series starts at “The Monster Mile.” Keller seeks career start No. 416 at Dover – one away from tying Houston. He tied three others – Houston, Randy LaJoie and David Green – for the event starts lead at Dover (25) in June (he finished 13th) and will earn the distinction of holding the most starts at an active track for the sixth time in his career if he takes the green flag there Saturday. (Media outlets may download the Keller starts record graphic at right by logging on to www.nascarmedia.com.)
• Team Rensi Motorsports announced that Richard Johns will finish out the 2007 season in the team’s No. 25 FreeCreditReport.com Ford starting with Saturday’s race at Dover. Johns had shared the ride with David Gilliland, whose storybook win at Kentucky Speedway in 2006 vaulted him into full-time NASCAR NEXTEL Cup competition. Gilliland pointed to his need to focus on his No. 38 Ford in the premier series while also allowing Johns – who serves as Team Rensi’s head engineer when not racing – to do the same in the NASCAR Busch Series.
• Donnie Neuenberger (No. 52 Plan B Technologies Ford), a native of Brandywine, Md., and a graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County will attempt to qualify for the RoadLoans.com 200 at his home track in between appearances as a NASCAR analyst on Comcast SportsNet. … Casey Atwood (No. 37 Kickbutt Amped Energy Ballz Ford) who won at Dover as a 19-year-old in 1999, returns to the series for the first time since 2006.
• Kyle Busch’s win at Richmond two weeks ago cemented Chevrolet’s 14th NASCAR Busch Series Bill France Performance Cup and its fourth consecutive manufacturer’s championship trophy.

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