Denny Hamlin pulled away from the field after the last round of pit stops and never looked back to capture Saturday afternoon’s Carfax 250 Busch Series race at the Michigan International Speedway. The No.20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet driver crossed the finish line 6.975 seconds ahead of Matt Kenseth.
The victory was Hamlin’s second of the season and fourth of his Busch career.
After winning his first Busch pole since 2004, Greg Biffle led the field to the green flag for 125 laps of high-speed racing.
The No.16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford driver was unsuccessful in holding off a charging Brian Vickers, who took the inside lane, on the first lap.
Vickers was still in the first when the initial caution flag of the race came out on lap seven. David Reutimann, who was second in the drivers standings, came down pit road during the caution period to fix a left-front fender problem.
On lap 11 Vickers led Biffle, Hamlin, Kenseth and Kevin Harvick to the restart. Kenseth used a great restart to make his way to the front. On lap 16 Kenseth ducked under Vickers for the lead.
The points leader, Carl Edwards, experienced some trouble when he spun out on lap 24 to bring out the caution flag. Edwards then received a penalty for entering pit road to early, which left him at the back of the field.
Vickers, who retook the top spot just before the caution came out, led the leaders down pit lane for their first pit stops of the afternoon under the caution period. Hamlin won the race off pit road followed by Biffle, Harvick, Kenseth and Vickers.
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RESULTS:
FIN ST CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR PTS/BNS LAPS STATUS
1 5 20 Denny Hamlin Chevrolet Rockwell Automation 195/10 125 Running
2 12 17 Matt Kenseth Ford Arby’s 175/5 125 Running
3 8 21 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet AutoZone 170/5 125 Running
4 16 29 Jeff Burton Chevrolet Holiday Inn 160/0 125 Running
5 1 16 Greg Biffle Ford 3M Car Care 155/0 125 Running
6 2 10 Brian Vickers Toyota Fan1st.com 155/5 125 Running
7 7 15 Paul Menard Chevrolet AKONA / Menards 146/0 125 Running
8 20 103 Todd Bodine Toyota Germain Toyota 142/0 125 Running
9 13 24 Casey Mears Chevrolet Nat’l Guard / 76th Infantry Brigade 138/0 125 Running
10 19 2 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet BB&T 134/0 125 Running
11 29 126 Jamie McMurray Ford Dish Network 130/0 125 Running
12 22 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet HendrickCar
s.com 127/0 124 Running
13 28 88 Brad Keselowski * Chevrolet U.S. Navy 124/0 124 Running
14 33 38 Jason Leffler Toyota Great Clips 121/0 124 Running
15 17 18 Brad Coleman * Chevrolet Carino’s Italian Grill 118/0 124 Running
16 14 99 David Reutimann Toyota Dominos.com 115/0 124 Running
17 39 1 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet Miccosukee Gaming & Resorts 112/0 124 Running
18 9 77 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet Dollar General 114/5 124 Running
19 6 59 Marcos Ambrose * Ford Kingsford / MatchLight 106/0 124 Running
20 4 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit 103/0 124 Running
21 3 6 David Ragan * Ford Discount Tire 105/5 124 Running
22 30 211 Jason Keller Chevrolet CARFAX 97/0 124 Running
23 23 7 Mike Wallace Chevrolet GEICO 94/0 124 Running
24 25 22 David Stremme Dodge Supercuts 91/0 124 Running
25 21 12 Sam Hornish Jr. * Dodge Mobil 1 88/0 124 Running
26 37 90 Stephen Leicht Ford CitiFinancial 85/0 124 Running
27 42 35 Bobby Hamilton Jr. Ford McDonald’s 82/0 124 Running
28 15 60 Carl Edwards Ford Sharp AQUOS / 3M Vikuiti 79/0 124 Running
29 11 25 David Gilliland Ford FreeCreditR
eport.com 76/0 123 Running
30 24 33 Tony Stewart Chevrolet Old Spice 73/0 123 Running
31 35 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Lawry’s 70/0 123 Running
32 26 47 Kelly Bires Ford Clorox ToiletWand / American Red Cross 67/0 123 Running
33 36 249 Brian Keselowski Dodge DNR / Michigan State Parks 64/0 123 Running
34 41 14 Kyle Krisiloff * Ford Lilly / Walgreens 61/0 122 Running
35 10 27 Ward Burton Ford Kleenex 58/0 122 Running
36 34 28 Jeff Green Chevrolet U.S. Border Patrol 55/0 122 Running
37 27 66 Steve Wallace Dodge Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches 52/0 122 Running
38 40 37 Bobby East Ford Cub Cadet / Kleenex 49/0 121 Running
39 43 170 Mark Green Chevrolet Foretravel Motorcoach / Biomet 46/0 108 Running
40 31 36 Brent Sherman Chevrolet Big Lots 43/0 65 Out of Race
41 38 189 Morgan Shepherd Dodge Victory In Jesus 40/0 22 Out of Race
42 18 42 Kevin Hamlin Dodge Texaco / Havoline 37/0 7 Out of Race
43 32 01 Kertus Davis Chevrolet JD Motorsports 34/0 6 Out of Race
- Michigan Cup qualifying rained out, Busch gets pole
- Sprint Car Racing - Pauch Dominates Field for Sixth Career Victoria 200 Victory
- Edwards a Michigan machine
- Michigan race postponed again, will try again Tuesday
- Martin to race for Hendrick in Busch car at Michigan
Who cares!!!!!!!!
These Cup drivers seriously need to stop running in the busch series and give the rookies a chance to race each other..
This is why no GOOD rookie drivers have been discovered recently
because these CUP teams are taking all their qualifying positions
and out running them in BUSCH. It’s like College and Pro.
DON’T MIX THEM!
Give these new comers a chance!
AXEL NO COMMENT FROM YOU ?
FROM NASCAR.COM…
“Hamlin, who will also race here in Sunday’s 3M Performance 400 Nextel Cup event, picked up his second Busch win of the season and fourth of his career. His victory gave Cup regulars 22 victories in 25 tries on the Busch circuit this season.”
22 of 25 wins by CUP drivers! HOLY ****. THAT IS NOT RIGHT!!
They need to limit or knock them from Busch completely.