Denny Hamlin snatches victory on the last lap Showdown

RICHMOND, Virginia — as a driver and sponsor charity race, Denny Hamlin polished Thursday night at Richmond International Raceway. By Steve Helber, AP

Denny Hamlin celebrates after winning his short track Showdown at Richmond International Raceway.

By Steve Helber, AP

Denny Hamlin celebrates after winning his short track Showdown at Richmond International Raceway.

After qualifying on pole position for the fourth annual Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown, Hamlin sent his No. 11 Toyota back at the start of the race of 75 laps. He needed every circuit to make it back to the front, bumping Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch led off the first inning of the last lap for a victory that capped a come from behind for a tour de force of hometown crowd. "It's good," said Hamlin, who scored his first victory at the event. "It seems that a victory Cup".After a celebratory burnout and salute to the crowd, NASCAR Sprint Cup runner-up last year, who grew up in nearby Chesterfield, walked to the flagstad and left his helmet on the wall of the pit because "there was a kid that had a shirt 48 (Jimmie Johnson) eme I felt that he needed a helmet"Because of procedures intended to make the first late model race at RIR on 14 years safer qualification (for maintaining certain drivers inside lane), Hamlin said he was given the top starting spot, even though he would have qualified 10 about 0,75-mile oval. "I felt as if I had my chances to win, he said."But I felt that I needed to do it right. So we did it the hard way. "His race ended almost as soon as it began. Starting 36th, Hamlin narrowly avoided a 12-car pileup outside the backstretch in the first round. Although he flat-spotted his tires in the accident, Hamlin managed to March steadily forward. He restarted 22 after the accident and moved to the top 20 within 15 laps. He reached the top 10 just before a competition caution with 30 laps left.His big break came after another caution with 10 laps remaining. On a restart with seven laps remaining, Darrell Wallace Jr. (who won the race of K & no delayed rain earlier in the evening) spun while trying to pass Busch for the leadership to bring out a yellow end.Hamlin jumped from seventh to third parties to restart with two laps remaining. Fighting a fuel pickup problem apparent, Busch Toyota began to stir in the backstretch on the penultimate lap and Hamlin nudged him side by entering the final turn. Hamlin, "I'm happy that he ran out of fuel, because he could have gotten ugly," he said. "Trust me, I would have done everything possible to get around in the last couple of corners. That's what this race is built around. This is the old school racing. "The race has not been corrected, trust me. Kyle Busch was not going to let me win this race. "Michael Waltrip finished second, followed by Chase Elliott, Joey Logano and Frank Deiny Jr. Busch hanging for sixth. "I know what could have gone better? Denny WINS, "Waltrip said. "I was right about him the last lap, but how can you knock a guy out of the way when it is your rush? was really happy that Denny has asked me to run. Tony (Stewart) never asked me to run in your race (an all-star exhibition at Eldora). "Most products in the event of Hamlin will for its Foundation, and 10% will go to relief efforts for victims of tornadoes that swept Wednesday night the West .it's all added up to a sweet twist of Hamlin, who was bumped out of the first in the last corner of the race for charity last year.Coming back, it was just difficult to do, "he said. "It's just a good confidence booster."For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ. To report corrections and clarifications, contact standards Editor Brent Jones. For consideration of publication in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and State for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections usatoday.com. We've updated the guidelines of the conversation. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation of how to use the "report abuse" button. Read more.

Hamlin makes it 2 wins in 2 nights in Richmond

RICHMOND, Virginia — make it two WINS in two nights of Denny Hamlin at his home track.Hamlin grabbed the lead for the first 44 laps of time for the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Richmond International Raceway on Friday night and dominated the rest of the 250-lap race.He lost the lead briefly when he pitted under green flag again when Aric Almirola have underneath him after you restart the first, and then he grabbed back six laps later for good.The victory was the 11th career Hamlin in the Nationwide Series and came a night after he passed Kyle Busch on the final lap to win his race for charity at the track.After arriving in Richmond 17TH in points in the Sprint Cup Series and hoping to jump start its season, Hamlin said he expects the momentum of two victories mean the start of something. "It is a big snowball is rolling and rolling, he said. "I hope it keeps going."Unlike charity race, in which Hamlin required all 75 laps to rally starting on the back of the field, he was 11th on the grid and had huge leads most of the night.But as Busch, who ran out of gas before arrival Thursday, Hamlin was severing close, prompting the head of team Adam Stevens to beg him to save fuel as he sought his first victory. "It is difficult to tell a driver, ' Slow down! Slow down! ' " Hamlin said. "It is completely out of our mentality, but he had a plan. He knew that we were right there in number. I had a feeling that we were going to make it. I felt very confident, but dude, it's great to win again in Richmond ".He took 199 of 251 laps and made it look too easy whenever he had the chance.When the ' Kelly Bires spun in turn 4 wall for the first caution on lap 124, Hamlin was leading by 8 seconds. And when he opened a lead of almost six seconds over Ricky Stenhouse Jr. with less than 30 laps, Hamlin was able to try to save fuel to make it to the checkered flag.Stenhouse, however, took the second caution when he ran out of gas on lap 243, and when Almirola was also without gas behind it, Hamlin opted to pit to be safe.On the restart on lap 250, he'd Paul Menard behind him, followed by points leader Justin Allgaier. Hamlin easily won Menard in the first round in green and was crossing when a crash in the fourth turn brought another caution, clinching the victory of Hamlin.Com only three cars on the lead lap, Menard said he was "just going to bomb it into a" trying to pass Hamlin on the last lapbut prudence took this option. "He just had a better resume than I do, basically," Menard said about Hamlin, adding that he was not so sure that would have lasted Hamlin had fuel race ended without care.Chesterfield is the native of second runway 15 miles from his hometown.Menard was second, followed by Allgaier, Elliott Sadler, Brad Keselowski. The five were the only cars on the lead lap finish, in part because Almirola, who crossed the finish line in fifth place, was penalized for speeding on pit road and dropped to 14 overall.Sadler, a native of Virginia, Emporia that never worked well on the track also considered his course of origin credited team owner Kevin Harvick with giving him advice very helpful. "He said: ' look, this is what I want you to do, this is how I want you to be executed, that is what I want you to focus on ', and it saved my ass. I ran a lot better tonight, "said Sadler. Stenhouse, who shared the points lead with Allgaier coming race, ended at 21".We hated to see Ricky have trouble had tonight, "said Allgaier, who leads No. 2 Sadler by six points. "You never want to take something someone else's misfortune."