Almirola wins as Hamlin finishes first

Polesitter Almirola got to start the race as Denny Hamlin, who was supposed to drive the car from the green flag, was not able to get to his car on time for the formation lap. His landing on the track on a helicopter was delayed, having made the trip from California where he will race tomorrow in the Nextel Cup race.

He watched from the pits how Almirola led the race from the start, and had initially decided with his team it would've been "disrespectful" to take the 23-year-old out of the car as he was doing such a good job with it.

However, Hamlin did jump in on lap 59, after a disheartened Almirola pitted under caution from third place once being instructed by his team to do so.

Hamlin then made a great recovery from 31st place and a lap down on the leader, to take a victory that was credited to Almirola - his first in the Busch Series - due to NASCAR's regulations on relief drivers. However, he did not take part of the celebrations in victory lane.

"I didn't want to do it," Hamlin said about having to take the drive away from Almirola during the race. "I knew that he would be really upset as well as he was running at the time, you know.

"But we've got to do what we've got to do and it definitely wasn't my choice but it's a great thing to come out here and get this win after such a long trip and not being able to land and everything, just sitting out the first 60 laps. It was amazing to come back and win this thing."

Hamlin got the free pass during the fourth caution of the day being the first car a lap down on 16th place on lap 144, when Carl Edwards was the man looking as the clear favorite to take victory once again.

Edwards had taken the lead of the race for the first time on lap 43 after overtaking Almirola, who got stuck trying to get by the lapped car of Steven Wallace.

He held on up front until a problem during a pitstop caused him to lose the lead and then a puncture a few laps later forced him to pit under green and dropped him to 24th and a lap down on Denny Hamlin, who was already leading by lap 174.

The Busch Series points leader was a man on a mission from then on, switching from being hunted by Hamlin to hunt the Joe Gibbs' driver in just a matter of laps. He was the fastest man on the track and was able to get back on the lead lap when the yellow flag came out with 29 laps to go for an accident involving Frank Kreyer.

While Edwards moved up to 11th after everybody completed their last pitstops of the day, Scott Wimmer led when the green flag waved again with Jason Leffler second, both drivers gambling on taking only two tyres. Meanwhile Hamlin was fourth but had four new tyres for the final and crucial part of the race.

A further caution came out with 19 laps to go when Kevin Hamlin, replacing Juan Pablo Montoya in the No. 42 Ganassi Dodge, got spun by Mike Wallace, allowing Hamlin to close on Wimmer and Leffler, who had broken away from the pack already.

With 15 laps to go the race restarted, Wimmer and Leffler battling for the lead allowing Hamlin to join the battle. Hamlin swept three-wide down the inside to take the lead with 13 laps remaining.

Edwards meanwhile struggled to move up the order and could only get up to ninth with less than ten laps to go when the last caution of the day came out. The Roush Fenway driver was already out of contention for victory while at the front Hamlin fended off Scott Wimmer to the chequer flag when the green flag waved for the final time with 4 laps to go.

Edwards finished eighth and further extended his lead in the points. Wimmer took another consecutive top-three result despite some disappointment, with Leffler third and Joe Gibbs' second entry driven by Brad Coleman finishing fourth.

Pos  Driver                  Make        Laps
 1.  Aric Almirola           Chevrolet    250
 2.  Scott Wimmer            Chevrolet    250
 3.  Jason Leffler           Toyota       250
 4.  Brad Coleman            Chevrolet    250
 5.  Jason Keller            Ford         250
 6.  Todd Bodine             Toyota       250
 7.  David Reutimann         Toyota       250
 8.  Carl Edwards            Ford         250
 9.  Johnny Benson           Chevrolet    250
10.  Shane Huffman           Chevrolet    250
11.  Mike Wallace            Chevrolet    250
12.  David Ragan             Ford         250
13.  Bobby Hamilton Jr       Ford         250
14.  Stephen Leicht          Ford         250
15.  Marcos Ambrose          Ford         250
16.  Kevin Hamlin            Dodge        250
17.  Chase Miller            Dodge        249
18.  Todd Kluever            Ford         249
19.  Richard Johns           Ford         249
20.  Marc Mitchell           Chevrolet    249
21.  Mark Green              Chevrolet    248
22.  Bobby East              Ford         248
23.  Cale Gale               Chevrolet    248
24.  Kyle Krisiloff          Ford         248
25.  Mike Bliss              Dodge        247
26.  D.J. Kennington         Dodge        247
27.  Steve Wallace           Dodge        246
28.  Tim McCreadie           Chevrolet    241
29.  Trevor Boys             Chevrolet    241
30.  Kelly Bires             Ford         241
31.  Eric McClure            Chevrolet    238
32.  Brent Sherman           Chevrolet    236
33.  Robert Richardson II    Chevrolet    232
34.  Frank Kreyer            Chevrolet    217
35.  Scott Lagasse Jr        Dodge        163
36.  Ron Hornaday            Chevrolet     56
37.  Ian Henderson           Ford          29
38.  Mike Harmon             Chevrolet     10
39.  Brad Teague             Ford           9
40.  Chris Horn              Chevrolet      4
41.  Jerick Johnson          Chevrolet      4
42.  Mike Potter             Chevrolet      4