Hamlin wins again in Nationwide
Denny Hamlin claimed Joe Gibbs Racing's twelfth Nationwide series victory of the season in the Winn-Dixie 250 at Daytona International Speedway
Once again the Toyota-powered cars emerged as the class of the field in restrictor-plate racing, with the No. 20 car that Hamlin drove to victory taking three out of three wins at NASCAR's biggest tracks.
Hamlin first emerged in the lead on lap 61 and was in contention from then on. He swapped positions at the front with Dale Earnhardt Jr, teammate Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards, but ten laps from the end he grabbed the lead for one last time.
With about eight laps to go it looked like he was going to break away from the field only chased by Busch, but two laps from the end a caution came out when Colin Braun lost control of his car at the exit of turn four, crashing into the outside barrier.
The incident forced a green-white-chequered finish but Busch didn't attempt anything and stayed in line to protect as safe one-two for Joe Gibbs Racing, giving the Virginia native his third victory of the season and the eighth of his career.
"Kyle kind of got back there on that last restart and it worried me a little bit he was going to get a run," said Hamlin, who had started the race from 17th place. "I knew he was going to have a huge head of steam but he was a great teammate and it's a great example of team work. We had a one-two-three last week and a one-two this week."
Busch came home in second place ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr and Clint Bowyer, while Brad Keselowski rounded up the top-five as the best among the Nationwide series regulars, leading 28 laps during the night, only one less than the race-winner.
"The 20 car was definitely the fastest car out there," Busch said. "We had the best handling car and were able to keep it wide-open pretty much the whole race.
"Obviously the No. 20 team has been strong all year. It was fun to race there with (Dale Earnhardt) Junior and Denny and the No. 2 car was coming back there towards the end for what it was worth.
"We had a green-white-chequered and just felt like it was better staying in line rather than try to go for something and fall back more spots. I just had to play the teammate game there and help Denny."
The last restart saw some action at the front of the pack when Carl Edwards ran in the grass trying to take evasive action when one of the front-runners was slow on the green flag.
He was upset at the end of the race because he felt he wasn't on the right position for that last restart, due to a problem with the timing and scoring.
"When Colin Braun wrecked on the back straightaway, I was 100 feet in front of Clint Bowyer and then on the restart, because I drove through the grass, I didn't go through their timing loop there, so they scored me behind Clint, which was very frustrating," he said.
"I felt like we had a chance to win. And then on the restart, it just didn't work out for us. Very, very frustrating."
Pole-sitter Bryan Clauson looked set for a top-ten finish but lost many positions in the last restart. He crossed the finish line in 19th place but was still the highest-finishing rookie in a race that finished with the caution flags waving when Mike Wallace crashed out of the final turn.
Bowyer continues to lead the points ahead of Keselowski.
Pos Driver Make Laps 1. Denny Hamlin Toyota 105 2. Kyle Busch Toyota 105 3. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet 105 4. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 105 5. Brad Keselowski Chevrolet 105 6. Kasey Kahne Dodge 105 7. Scott Wimmer Chevrolet 105 8. David Stremme Chevrolet 105 9. David Ragan Ford 105 10. Mike Bliss Chevrolet 105 11. Carl Edwards Ford 105 12. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 105 13. Steve Wallace Chevrolet 105 14. David Reutimann Toyota 105 15. Bobby Hamilton Jr Ford 105 16. Kelly Bires Ford 105 17. Kerry Earnhardt Chevrolet 105 18. Jason Keller Chevrolet 105 19. Bryan Clauson Dodge 105 20. Marcos Ambrose Ford 105 21. Brad Coleman Ford 105 22. Mike Wallace Toyota 104 23. Jason Leffler Toyota 104 24. Kevin Lepage Chevrolet 104 25. Kenny Wallace Chevrolet 104 26. Stanton Barrett Chevrolet 104 27. Brad Baker Ford 104 28. Derrike Cope Chevrolet 104 29. DJ Kennington Dodge 104 30. Mark Green Chevrolet 104 31. Morgan Shepherd Dodge 103 32. Robert Richardson Jr Chevrolet 103 33. Josh Wise Dodge 102 34. Donnie Neuenberger Chevrolet 101 35. Colin Braun Ford 97 36. James Hylton Chevrolet 82 37. Brian Vickers Toyota 76 38. Eric McClure Chevrolet 58 39. Mike Harmon Chevrolet 52 40. Johnny Chapman Chevrolet 28 41. Shane Huffman Chevrolet 23 42. Kertus Davis Chevrolet 6 43. Brad Teague Chevrolet 4
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