MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Denny Hamlin surged to the front after a blunder and won the rain-delayed NASCAR race at Martinsville Speedway in a wild finish.
The victory was Hamlin’s second straight here on the shortest, oldest track in the Sprint Cup Series.
Hamlin gave up the lead with less than 10 laps left yesterday when he headed to pit road for tires. He then rallied from ninth place to the lead in a span of just four laps.
“That’s hard to do. I had to bully my way through there towards the end, but everybody was just running into everyone,” Hamlin said.
The finish was an overtime two-lap sprint on which Hamlin started fourth, pushed Ryan Newman out of the way, then slipped inside Matt Kenseth and leader Jeff Gordon for the victory — and the kind of racing that made about 30,000 fans glad they came on a work day.
Joey Logano finished second, followed by Gordon, Newman and Martin Truex Jr.