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| Hamlin: I told you so! |
After inexplicably running out of fuel on the final lap of last week’s Chase opener at Chicagoland Speedway, Hamlin made a bold prediction, guaranteeing a victory one week hence at the Magic Mile.
Like Joe Namath in Super Bowl III, Hamlin backed up his words with actions Sunday, overcoming a tire-pressure miscue that saw him qualify 32nd to take the lead in just 93 laps. Once at the head of the pack, Hamlin was rarely headed, leading 100 of the remaining 207 laps – including the final 52 -- to claim a 2.675-second victory over runner-up Jimmie Johnson.
The victory was Hamlin's series-best fifth of the season and the 22nd of his Sprint Cup career, and marked only the sixth time a Chase race has been won by a driver starting 30th or worst. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has now won three of the last five races overall, and climbed to third in the championship standings, just seven behind leader Johnson.
"You don't want to sound too cocky, but I knew what
we were capable of," said Hamlin in an ESPN Victory Lane interview.
"Our car was extremely strong and I have a really good knack for this
racetrack. Those two, together with a crew chief like Darian is a good combination."
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| Darien Grubb is on a serious roll |
"It don't hurt to have a little confidence in your
team," said Hamlin of his called shot. "I know we made a couple of
big mistakes over the last two weeks, but I said we were fast enough to make it
up, and we were. I am going to have these guys' backs until they die on me.
This is my team."
After a disastrous, 35th-place showing last weekend at
Chicagoland, pole sitter Jeff Gordon
finished third Sunday, followed by fellow Chasers Clint Bowyer,
Kasey Kahne,
Brad
Keselowski and Tony Stewart.
Joey Logano, Brian Vickers and Ryan Newman completed the Top-10.
Johnson now leads Keselowski
by one point while Hamlin is seven behind and Stewart 10 back. Kahne and Bowyer
are tied for fifth, both 15 points behind, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. is seventh,
followed by Kevin Harvick, Greg Biffle, Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth and
Gordon.
The driver winning the
second Chase race has won the Sprint Cup Series Championship in each of the
last three seasons
Photos: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR, Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR
How bout that?! It would have been even more impressive, had he not backed off his comments earlier in the week. Nonetheless, well played Mr. Hamlin.
ReplyDeleteI'd be remiss if I didn't mention the #48 atop the list. If Hamlin doesn't run away with it, this has the makings of another knuckle buster.
we can never call tony stewart a good business man. i was a stewart fan till he fired Grubb. you would think old smoke would look at a guys track record before he made some decisions_ Almost every joc on nascar channel 90 says kyle bush is 1 of the best drivers in nascar and Addington let go- kurt bush always complained about how bad his set ups where. tony only hirers on looks its clear he is happy guy. great job Darien Grubb i hope u get denny a championship and don't loose your job. yes we can say tony is 4 in points with 3 wins_ im sure grubbs stuff was still in those cars in some way for the first 2 races he won- and dayton well- and tony is the best driver EVER with a bad crew chief thats why he is 4 in points.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, it would be MUCH easier to understand what you're saying if you would use punctuation, and check your spelling.
ReplyDeletesorry dave, i was being a keyboard commando after my morning coffee. lov your show
ReplyDelete