Hamlin scores his first win of 2011

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver claimed the lead in the final round of pitstops under the last caution of the day, which waved nine laps from the end when Dale Earnhardt Jr hit the wall due to a right-front tyre blowing. At that point a number of drivers were marginal on their fuel mileage and as the pits opened the leaders went for a splash of fuel and two tyres.

Hamlin's team came out on top from the battle in the pits, handing the lead to their driver for the first time during the race. Track position being key all afternoon, Hamlin had a fight in his hands to keep himself up front on the final restart when the race resumed for the last five laps, Kenseth restarting alongside him on the front row.

When the green flag waved Kenseth got wheelspin allowing Hamlin to jump ahead. However, the battle was still on as the Roush racer put the pressure back on the leader, Kenseth trying different lines to Hamlin's on the last two laps in an effort to regain the lead that had been his for 16 laps before that.

However last year's Cup runner up did not put a foot wrong and despite Kenseth's best efforts - which almost made him spin out of the final turn - Hamlin remained up front to take his first win since Texas in November 2010.

"I think everyone knows that we've been strong and today we didn't look as strong as what we normally do here, but we got it working there at the end," said Hamlin, whose result vaulted him up to the top 10 in the points after he had been down in 23rd seven weeks ago.

"We made a magic adjustment and just the car took off. This is the point in the season where we really need to start hitting our stride and hopefully we've got another good 10 weeks before the Chase starts."

Kenseth was part of a strong challenge from the Roush Fords, which led more than half the race's distance between them, first with Greg Biffle and later with Carl Edwards who emerged up front from the penultimate restart. Edwards was right behind Kenseth on the last green flag and was somewhat hampered by his team-mate's poor getaway.

"I just couldn't quite get Denny," admitted Kenseth. "After restarts we were kind of slow and tight in the middle which isn't a good thing to be in a short shoot-out. We had a great car in the long run, though. I tried what I could to get around him but I slipped on the restart. I just needed more laps to get it going."

Following a controversial start to its weekend, Joe Gibbs Racing rounded out a great day with Kyle Busch taking third place at the flag from 24th on the grid. Busch was Roush's main opponent of the day, leading 60 laps and being a contender for victory until his final stop placed him sixth with just a handful of laps remaining. He was able to jump up to third on the final restart but could not quite get in the mix with Kenseth and his team-mate Hamlin in the end.

However Joe Gibbs Racing is waiting to hear from NASCAR about what punishment it will receive for fitting the engines of its three cars with oil pans that had not been previously approved by officials. The parts were removed before the first practice of the weekend.

"The reality of it is it was our fault for not bringing it to them and laying it out. It's a good lesson learned," said JD Gibbs. "Also having those communications ahead of time. We want to be in this sport, we want to be here with integrity and do things the right way. We made mistakes in the past as a team and I'm sure we'll make mistakes in the future... It's a wake-up call for us to make sure we do a better job before bringing parts to the track."

Richard Childress Racing's Paul Menard finished fourth, his best result of the season, beating points leader Carl Edwards. Stewart-Haas Racing team-mates Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart were sixth and seventh, while RCR's Bowyer, Hendrick's Mark Martin and Red Bull's Brian Vickers rounded out the top 10.

Besides Martin's solid finish it was not the best of days for Hendrick Motorsports as Jimmie Johnson spun early on and then had a long stop while mechanics tried to replace a broken front sway bar on his car. Then Earnhardt hit the wall after his right-front tyre blew following previous contact with the wall while battling with team-mate Martin. Jeff Gordon was only 17th this time after his victory at Pocono last weekend.

Penske's Kurt Busch was 11th after starting from pole for the third week in a row.

Results - 200 laps:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                           Time/Gap
 1.  Denny Hamlin        Gibbs Toyota                   2h36m50.000s
 2.  Matt Kenseth        Roush Fenway Ford                  + 0.281s
 3.  Kyle Busch          Gibbs Toyota                       + 0.853s
 4.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet                + 1.391s
 5.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford                  + 1.828s
 6.  Ryan Newman         Stewart Haas Chevrolet             + 2.735s
 7.  Tony Stewart        Stewart Haas Chevrolet             + 2.922s
 8.  Clint Bowyer        Childress Chevrolet                + 3.797s
 9.  Mark Martin         Hendrick Chevrolet                 + 3.952s
10.  Brian Vickers       Red Bull Toyota                    + 4.435s
11.  Kurt Busch          Penske Dodge                       + 4.586s
12.  Landon Cassill      Phoenix Chevrolet                  + 4.613s
13.  AJ Allmendinger     Petty Ford                         + 4.691s
14.  Kevin Harvick       Childress Chevrolet                + 4.698s
15.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford                  + 4.898s
16.  Trevor Bayne        Wood Brothers Ford                 + 5.182s
17.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet                 + 5.347s
18.  Joey Logano         Gibbs Toyota                       + 5.435s
19.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet        + 6.773s
20.  David Ragan         Roush Fenway Ford                  + 6.900s
21.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet                 + 7.145s
22.  Bobby Labonte       JTG Daugherty Toyota               + 8.076s
23.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                         + 8.549s
24.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet                + 8.750s
25.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Dodge                      + 24.035s
26.  Martin Truex Jr     Waltrip Toyota                      + 1 lap
27.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet                  + 1 lap
28.  Kasey Kahne         Red Bull Toyota                     + 1 lap
29.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford                      + 1 lap
30.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet         + 1 lap
31.  Travis Kvapil       Front Row Ford                      + 1 lap
32.  Mike Bliss          FAS Lane Ford                       + 1 lap
33.  Regan Smith         Furniture Row Chevrolet             + 1 lap
34.  Dave Blaney         Baldwin Chevrolet                  + 2 laps
35.  David Reutimann     Waltrip Toyota                    + 20 laps

Retirements:

     Andy Lally          TRG Chevrolet                      155 laps
     Robby Gordon        Gordon Dodge                        80 laps
     Casey Mears         Germain Toyota                      51 laps
     JJ Yeley            Whitney Chevrolet                   47 laps
     Joe Nemechek        NEMCO Toyota                        44 laps
     David Stremme       Inception Chevrolet                 39 laps
     Scott Riggs         Whitney Chevrolet                   30 laps
     Michael McDowell    HP Toyota                           28 laps