Hamlin optimistic a surge is coming

BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) — At this time last year, Denny Hamlin had already won five times on the Sprint Cup circuit and was hovering near the top of the standings.
That’s not the case now, but another victory in Michigan has Hamlin optimistic about a summer surge.
“My goal is still to get in the top five in points,” Hamlin said. “If I wouldn’t have dug us such a big hole at the beginning of the year, we really could be possibly fighting for trying to lead the points going into the Chase, but we just started so far behind, it’s going to be tough to do that. My realistic goal is top five in points.”
Hamlin raced to his first Cup victory of the year, holding off Matt Kenseth on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway. The drivers appeared headed for a fuel-mileage finish, then a late caution enabled them to make pit stops before a frantic closing five-lap sprint.
Hamlin won at Michigan last June too, his fifth of eight victories on the season as he contended for the series title that was ultimately won by Jimmie Johnson. This year has been a lot different. Hamlin entered Sunday’s race 12th in the points standings. The victory moved him up to ninth, and there’s still plenty of time to make up more ground.
“Realistically, you know if the whole world collapses and ends, you’re still one win away from getting a Chase spot, pretty much,” Hamlin said. “We know two wins pretty much puts you in. From here on out, we know we’re one win away.”
Kenseth was the only driver with a shot to catch Hamlin in the final moments. Kenseth tried to go both above and below the leader, but was unable to pass Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota. Hamlin won by 0.281 seconds.
“Feels good to get a win after sneaking up on everyone,” Hamlin said. “We expect ourselves to win. We just had little bugs that kept us from doing that. This one we just snuck in there.”
Kyle Busch was third, giving Joe Gibbs Racing two of the top three spots after the team was told to change oil pans before Friday’s practice. NASCAR said oil pans from cars driven by Hamlin, Busch and Joey Logano were not submitted for approval before opening day inspection.
The team could face additional penalties this week, but Hamlin and Busch hardly seemed distracted.
“It speaks volumes to the experience and resilience of this 11 car that you can start the week off with a down note and put that behind you and make sure that it doesn’t affect what’s getting ready to happen,” said Mike Ford, Hamlin’s crew chief. “This team usually comes out swinging when its back’s against the ropes. Sometimes we connect and sometimes we get dotted in the eye.”
Busch finished the race without incident after he and Kevin Harvick came off probation. They were fined and disciplined for a run-in last month.
Busch drove despite chest pain and took the lead about midway through.
“It was just hard to breathe. I had to take real short breaths,” he said. “Felt like I was running a 400-mile marathon, which essentially I was. But I felt like I was running on my feet instead of in a race car.”
Carl Edwards moved in front coming out of a caution that ended at lap 163, and it appeared the race would come down to who had enough fuel. The final caution, however, changed all that.
“I think I was going to run out of gas, so I was riding around half-throttle, which isn’t much fun,” Kenseth said. “Just running slow, hoping for a caution.”
Edwards, who won the Nationwide race Saturday, finished fifth. He remains atop the standings, 20 points ahead of Harvick.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 21st, three years after his most recent Cup victory, at Michigan. He has gone 108 races without a victory, and it was his car that hit the wall to cause the fifth and final caution.
Johnson, who entered the race second to Edwards in the standings, dropped three spots to fifth after a 27th-place finish. The defending series champion fell way behind Sunday after an early spin.
“Tough day,” he said. “We were just kind of in a hole at that point and couldn’t get caught back up.”
It was a frustrating day for Kurt Busch, who won his third straight Sprint Cup pole but fell out of contention and finished 11th.
“Our first lap was awesome. The last 199 were a challenge,” he said. “You need a good race car, solid pit stops and good changes to keep up with the track, and we were just too inconsistent today.”
Greg Biffle led for 68 laps, all during the first half of the race. He finished 15th.
Hamlin led for only eight laps, but that was enough for his 17th career victory.
“That’s very uplifting for me, is to win when you don’t necessarily have the best car all day,” he said. “We struggled for most of the day to get our car where we needed it, but there at the end we just got it tightened up enough to where it started running.”

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