Hamlin wins Nationwide at Richmond

Hamlin had a day to remember as he scored victory in his home state of Virginia, just a couple of hours after he had taken pole for Saturday night's Sprint Cup Series event.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver pitted from fourth place on a caution period only 21 laps from the end, taking four tyres and fuel for the final part of the race. When the race resumed, he moved up from fourth place to grab the lead with nine laps left holding on to it until the chequered flag.

"It's unbelievable that we were able to get this done in my home state," said an excited Hamlin. "This is my biggest win in Cup or anything - it doesn't matter, this is my biggest win by far. It means a lot to finally break through in Richmond."

"We weren't that good most of the day, but Dave (Rogers, crew chief) just kept making the car better and better throughout the day. Just an unbelievable finish for us. I always said that circumstances were going to have to come our way for us to get a win here. It seems like we never win whether we have the best car or the worst car.

"When those guys decided to stay out and not take tyres, I knew this was our race to lose."

Kevin Harvick led more laps than anyone during the race but his strategy in the end didn't pay off. On the penultimate caution, when Hamlin pitted, Harvick chose to stay on the track and hold on to his lead and run to the finish on old rubber. Carl Edwards and Mike Bliss followed his call, which turned out to be wrong one.

"We were kind of stuck in a bad spot there and I made the call to stay out and it wound up costing us the race," Harvick said. "It's hard to make that decision with just ten laps to go. While it went one way I saw most of the tail behind me so I didn't know how many of us were going to stay out."

Once again Kyle Busch shone, this time driving the No. 32 Camry for Braun Racing. As at last week's Cup race at Talladega, he fell a lap down but recovered well to be in contention in the end and finish a strong third behind Harvick, although with some controversy.

Steven Wallace was battling for position with Busch and tapped the rear of his car exiting turn two on the penultimate lap, getting him sideways. Busch managed to keep the car under control and finish ahead of Wallace but then the pair made contact after the chequered flag.

Busch confronted Wallace when they arrived in the pits, the latter still sitting in his car. He appeared to grab Busch by the helmet but team personnel intervened and brought the exchange to an end.

They both voiced their feelings through the PA when they were interviewed by radio crews.

"Basically he's a boy trying to play in a men's sport and I don't play those games," Busch said. "We're going to fight if it comes down to it and if he wants to play that kind of game, then that's what were going to play."

Steven Wallace had to be content with fifth place in the end, losing out to David Ragan but still taking his first ever top-five in the Nationwide Series.

"Just rubbin' racing," Wallace said about the incident. "I got in the back of him out of turn two but if he's going to say stuff like that then he should come here and say it in my face. We had a good car and worked hard all week."

Carl Edwards was seventh in the end and made up some ground in the points standing to leader Clint Bowyer who had a silent day but still managed to bring his car home in a solid tenth place, which enables him to stay in the lead of the championship.

Pos  Driver                Car        Laps
 1.  Denny Hamlin          Toyota      253
 2.  Kevin Harvick         Chevrolet   253
 3.  Kyle Busch            Toyota      253
 4.  David Ragan           Ford        253
 5.  Steve Wallace         Chevrolet   253
 6.  David Stremme         Chevrolet   253
 7.  Carl Edwards          Ford        253
 8.  Mike Bliss            Chevrolet   253
 9.  Clint Bowyer          Chevrolet   253
10.  Scott Wimmer          Chevrolet   253
11.  Brad Keselowski       Chevrolet   253
12.  Matt Kenseth          Ford        253
13.  Mike Wallace          Toyota      253
14.  Kasey Kahne           Dodge       253
15.  Sam Hornish Jr        Dodge       253
16.  Jason Leffler         Toyota      253
17.  Bobby Hamilton Jr     Ford        253
18.  David Reutimann       Toyota      251
19.  Jason Keller          Chevrolet   251
20.  Kelly Bires           Ford        251
21.  Bryan Clauson         Dodge       252
22.  Mark Green            Chevrolet   250
23.  Landon Cassill        Chevrolet   250
24.  Johnny Sauter         Dodge       250
25.  Marcos Ambrose        Ford        250
26.  Brad Coleman          Ford        249
27.  D.J. Kennington       Dodge       249
28.  Morgan Shepherd       Dodge       249
29.  Kevin Lepage          Ford        248
30.  Brian Keselowski      Dodge       248
31.  Kertus Davis          Chevrolet   247
32.  Eric McClure          Chevrolet   246
33.  Derrike Cope          Chevrolet   245
34.  Robert Richardson     Chevrolet   243
35.  Ryan Hackett          Ford        243
36.  Brett Rowe            Chevrolet   240
37.  Kenny Wallace         Chevrolet   207
38.  Jeff Green            Chevrolet   162
39.  Burney Lamar          Ford         55
40.  Andy Ponstein         Chevrolet    18
41.  Danny Efland          Chevrolet    16
42.  Johnny Chapman        Chevrolet     8
43.  Kenny Hendrick        Chevrolet     6