Hamlin wins at New Hampshire

Hamlin was running fourth when a caution flag came out with 47 laps to go, and as the leaders pitted for the last time, the Joe Gibbs driver took on a two-tyre stop rather a full set of new Goodyears as the other top runners did.

The gamble put Hamlin in the lead but as he got closer to the chequered flag, Jeff Gordon started to fill his mirrors taking advantage of the fresher rubber he had. He overtook Martin Truex Jr for second place after a long battle with seven laps to go, but when he finally arrived right behind Hamlin it was already too late.

Gordon tried to put the Joe Gibbs driver under pressure in the last two corners of the race and just managed to put the nose of his car underneath Hamlin's, but that would be as far as he would get in his charge to take victory.

"I thought it was a good call up until I saw everyone with four [new] tyres behind me," Hamlin said about the strategy call that handed his team their first win of the season.

"That really worried me and all I was thinking was 'man, let us finish in the top five'. I knew Jeff was coming but Martin [Truex Jr] held him up long enough for him to get to me.

"Our tyres were just giving up. I had nearly 100 laps on the left side ones and I knew it was going to be a matter of time before we started to head back towards those guys. It was a half-lap long enough."

Jeff Gordon was just as competitive as he has been all season despite the absence of his crew chief Steve Letarte, who is serving a six-race suspension. In fact three out of the top five finishers of the day didn't seem to be bothered by not having their regular crew chiefs, with Dale Earnhardt Jr taking fourth ahead of Jimmie Johnson.

"Oh that was a lot of fun," Gordon said. "For Jeff Meendering to come in and have that kind of pressure on him as a crew chief, you know, he did a great job.

"I enjoyed quite a bit racing with Martin [Truex Jr]. We had a great battle there and was glad to get by him but once I did, it took me a couple of laps to get back in my rhythm and Denny just drove a great race."

Martin Truex Jr looked the driver to beat in the second half of the race and was in the lead just before the last round of pitstops. Unfortunately for the DEI driver his last set of tyres seemed to put him in trouble and out of contention for victory.

"We had a really good car right there until the last pitstop," Truex said. "That last set of tyres for some reason just didn't cooperate with me. Before that my car was really good and I put that set on at the end there and it wouldn't turn and was really loose off the corners."

Despite Truex's pace it was Dale Earnhardt Jr who led the most laps during the race, although he was not able to put himself in contention for the win in the closing stages of the race. His team however enjoyed one of their best showings of the season thus far.

"I'm real proud of how we've been able to run," Earnhardt said. "Martin Truex had a good run and DEI had a great day. We just ran up front all day and that's what I want every week. We're getting there lately."

Hendrick's Kyle Busch was also a factor during the afternoon, leading 48 laps and enjoying an interesting battle with his replacement, Dale Earnhardt Jr. However his pace in the late stages did not quite match that of his teammates and he ended up finishing 11th.

Juan Pablo Montoya enjoyed a good first part of the race, running comfortably in the top ten. But as the race progressed he started losing grip at the front end and his brakes started to fade badly.

He eventually finished 19th, picking up two places in the last corner after Kurt Busch got into the wall having made contact with David Ragan.

"The car started really good and we tried to fix it all day," Montoya said. "We threw everything at it and it just got worse all day long. We started with a top-five car and finished with a top-20 car.

"I think we made progress from where we were before with the CoT but it still shows we have a long way to go. I think the short runs we were really good. Long runs we were not strong as we need to be. Got some more season points and that's important."

Jeff Gordon continues to top the Nextel Cup driver standings 156 points ahead of Denny Hamlin. Matt Kenseth continues to be third having finished a quiet ninth today, while Jimmie Johnson moved up to fourth in the points race ahead of Jeff Burton.

Pos  Driver                Car              Laps
 1.  Denny Hamlin          Chevrolet         300
 2.  Jeff Gordon           Chevrolet         300
 3.  Martin Truex Jr       Chevrolet         300
 4.  Dale Earnhardt Jr     Chevrolet         300
 5.  Jimmie Johnson        Chevrolet         300
 6.  Jeff Green            Chevrolet         300
 7.  Jeff Burton           Chevrolet         300
 8.  Kevin Harvick         Chevrolet         300
 9.  Matt Kenseth          Ford              300
10.  Ryan Newman           Dodge             300
11.  Kyle Busch            Chevrolet         300
12.  Tony Stewart          Chevrolet         300
13.  Carl Edwards          Ford              300
14.  Johnny Sauter         Chevrolet         300
15.  David Ragan           Ford              300
16.  Jamie McMurray        Ford              300
17.  Robby Gordon          Ford              300
18.  Bobby Labonte         Dodge             300
19.  Juan Montoya          Dodge             300
20.  Tony Raines           Chevrolet         300
21.  Kurt Busch            Dodge             300
22.  J.J. Yeley            Chevrolet         300
23.  Casey Mears           Chevrolet         300
24.  Sterling Marlin       Chevrolet         300
25.  Kasey Kahne           Dodge             300
26.  Reed Sorenson         Dodge             300
27.  David Stremme         Dodge             300
28.  David Gilliland       Ford              299
29.  Dave Blaney           Toyota            299
30.  Ricky Rudd            Ford              299
31.  Greg Biffle           Ford              298
32.  Regan Smith           Chevrolet         298
33.  Elliott Sadler        Dodge             297
34.  Bill Elliott          Ford              297
35.  Kevin Lepage          Dodge             294
36.  Chad Chaffin          Dodge             293
37.  Clint Bowyer          Chevrolet         293
38.  David Reutimann       Toyota            293
39.  Paul Menard           Chevrolet         286
40.  Jeremy Mayfield       Toyota            259
41.  Joe Nemechek          Chevrolet         197
42.  John Andretti         Dodge             109
43.  Ward Burton           Chevrolet           4