Denny Hamlin grabs his first win of the 2011 season, and second career at Michigan. Jimmie Johnson broke a sway bar and finished 27th, Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran well until he hit the wall and finished 21st, and all 3 Joe Gibbs Racing cars were found to have unapproved oil pans installed to start the weekend. Possible penalties this week.

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(June 19, 2011)

BROOKLYN, Mich. — For the first time this season—at a track where he was expected to contend—Denny Hamlin finally dodged the pitfalls that have plagued him in previous races and closed the deal.

First out of the pits after a stop under caution on Lap 192 of 200, Hamlin held off Matt Kenseth after a restart with five laps left and claimed his first victory of the season in Sunday’s Heluva Good 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

Hamlin, who won his 17th Sprint Cup race, crossed the finish line .281 seconds ahead of Kenseth. Unlike previous races at his best tracks, such as Martinsville, Richmond and Pocono—where Hamlin was strong early but succumbed to a variety late-race problems—Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota was at its best in the closing laps of Sunday’s race.

“We finished—that’s the thing,” Hamlin said in victory lane. “We got it done. Everyone knows that we’ve been strong. Today we didn’t look as strong as what we normally do here, but we got it working there at the end.

“We made a magic adjustment, and the car took off. This is the point of the season where we really need to start hitting our stride, and hopefully we’ve got another good 10 weeks before the Chase starts.”

Kyle Busch, Hamlin’s teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, finished third for the second week in a row. Paul Menard came home fourth for his best result of the season, and Carl Edwards finished fifth and expanded his lead in the series standings to 20 points over second-place Kevin Harvick (14th Sunday).

Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Mark Martin and Brian Vickers completed the top 10.

Kenseth spun his tires on the final restart but got a push from Edwards, his Roush Fenway Racing teammate, and closed on Hamlin over the final five laps—but ran out of time.

“I got a bad restart, and Carl pushed me back to clean air, which was real nice of him, and I got back to Denny, but I couldn’t get around him,” Kenseth said. “We were kind of slow for about 10 laps on most runs, and then it seemed like we were the best car from 10 (laps) until we needed fuel.

“I just didn’t have enough time to get around him. I tried everything I could, and I just couldn’t figure out how to do it.”

The victory and third-place finish for the Gibbs cars were a welcome change from the start of the weekend. On Friday, NASCAR ordered all three JGR teams to replace oil pans that had not been submitted for approval. (JGR’s third driver, Joey Logano, finished 18th.) NASCAR is pondering sanctions for the unapproved parts, with an announcement expected early in the week.

Hamlin cracked the top 10 in the Cup standings for the first time since the third week of the season at Las Vegas. The runner-up to Jimmie Johnson in last year’s Chase, Hamlin is ninth, 77 points behind Edwards with 11 races left before the field for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup is set.

Hamlin got the opportunity he needed when a caution on Lap 158—the result of an accident involving Juan Pablo Montoya and Andy Lally in Turn 4—interrupted a cycle of green-flag pit stops and scrambled the running order for a restart on Lap 164.

Edwards passed Kenseth and Busch for the lead on the restart lap, with Hamlin in pursuit. With the top-10 drivers in fuel-saving mode, Edwards continued to pace the field, pulling away from Hamlin by a second and a half, before contact from Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin sent Dale Earnhardt Jr. into the Turn 1 wall to bring out the final caution.

On Lap 192, when the lead-lap cars came to the pits—most for two tires and fuel—Hamlin’s crew executed its best stop when it counted most.

Johnson continued to have problems with Michigan, one of four active Cup tracks where the five-time defending champion hasn’t won a race. Johnson spun off Turn 2 just eight laps into the race, flattened three of his four tires and broke the sway bar on the No. 48 Chevrolet.

Ultimately, Johnson lost two laps as his crew repaired the car. He salvaged a 27th-place finish but lost most of the ground in the standings he had gained on Edwards last week at Pocono. Johnson fell from second, six points back, to fifth, 29 points in arrears.

1 22 Kurt Busch Shell/Pennzoil Dodge 38.156 188.699
2 00 David Reutimann Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota 38.159 188.684
3 17 Matt Kenseth Crown Royal Ford 38.172 188.620
4 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota 38.266 188.157
5 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 38.378 187.607
6 14 Tony Stewart Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet 38.384 187.578
7 16 Greg Biffle Red Cross/3M Ford 38.389 187.554
8 4 Kasey Kahne Red Bull Toyota 38.393 187.534
9 27 Paul Menard Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Chevrolet 38.403 187.485
10 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Office Toyota 38.413 187.437
11 56 Martin Truex Jr. NAPA Auto Parts Toyota 38.422 187.393
12 51 Landon Cassill(i) Security Benefits/ThankATeacherToday Chev 38.455 187.232
13 39 Ryan Newman USArmy236Bday/BMooreNASCARHOF Chev 38.456 187.227
14 1 Jamie McMurray McDonald’s Chevrolet 38.471 187.154
15 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet 38.476 187.130
16 47 Bobby Labonte RainEater/Advance Auto Parts Toyota 38.490 187.062
17 21 Trevor Bayne(i) Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford 38.496 187.032
18 9 Marcos Ambrose DeWalt Ford 38.498 187.023
19 5 Mark Martin GoDaddy.com Chevrolet 38.509 186.969
20 6 David Ragan UPS Ford 38.558 186.732
21 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s/KOBALT Tools Chevrolet 38.571 186.669
22 29 Kevin Harvick Budweiser Chevrolet 38.571 186.669
23 99 Carl Edwards Aflac Now Hiring Ford 38.585 186.601
24 18 Kyle Busch Snickers Toyota 38.592 186.567
25 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Cars 2 Chevrolet 38.595 186.553
26 43 A J Allmendinger Best Buy Ford 38.604 186.509
27 33 Clint Bowyer Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet 38.626 186.403
28 38 Travis Kvapil(i) Fellowship of Christian Athletes Ford 38.664 186.220
29 87 Joe Nemechek(i) NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 38.747 185.821
30 20 Joey Logano Home Depot Toyota 38.762 185.749
31 24 Jeff Gordon Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet 38.770 185.711
32 30 David Stremme Inception Racing Chevrolet 38.784 185.644
33 31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar Chevrolet 38.803 185.553
34 46 J J Yeley Red Line Chevrolet 38.855 185.304
35 32 Mike Bliss(i) bluCigs Ford 38.866 185.252
36 71 Andy Lally # TRG Motorsports Ford 38.966 184.776
37 7 Robby Gordon SPEED Energy/Walgreens Dodge 38.985 184.686
38 66 Michael McDowell HP Racing LLC Toyota 39.009 184.573
39 13 Casey Mears GEICO Toyota 39.015 184.544
40 34 David Gilliland Taco Bell Ford 39.037 184.440
41 2 Brad Keselowski Miller Lite Dodge 39.093 184.176
42 36 Dave Blaney Golden Corral/GetAuctionAccess.com Chev Owner Points
43 81 Scott Riggs(i) Whitney’s Collision.com Chevrolet 39.177 183.781

1 33 Paul Menard(i) Rheem/Menards Chevrolet 39.554 182.030
2 12 Sam Hornish Jr. Alliance Dodge 39.867 180.600
3 60 Carl Edwards(i) Fastenal Ford 39.985 180.068
4 88 Aric Almirola Suave Men Chevrolet 40.097 179.565
5 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Tender Ridge Ford 40.156 179.301
6 2 Elliott Sadler OneMain Financial Chevrolet 40.210 179.060
7 16 Trevor Bayne RickysvsTrevor.com Ford 40.221 179.011
8 22 Brad Keselowski(i) Discount Tire Dodge 40.308 178.625
9 20 Joey Logano(i) GameStop/Cars 2 Toyota 40.317 178.585
10 70 David Stremme(i) Foretravel Chevrolet 40.420 178.130
11 32 Mark Martin(i) Dollar General Chevrolet 40.424 178.112
12 18 Kyle Busch(i) Pizza Ranch Toyota 40.435 178.064
13 31 Justin Allgaier Deft Chevrolet 40.501 177.773
14 66 Steve Wallace 5-hour Energy Toyota 40.512 177.725
15 30 Reed Sorenson Rexall Chevrolet 40.531 177.642
16 11 Brian Scott Shore Lodge Toyota 40.542 177.594
17 19 Mike Bliss TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet 40.551 177.554
18 81 Blake Koch # Daystar.com Dodge 40.617 177.266
19 09 Kenny Wallace Toyota Toyota 40.640 177.165
20 68 Matt Carter Marro’s Truck Chevrolet 40.692 176.939
21 62 Michael Annett Pilot/Flying J Toyota 40.722 176.809
22 38 Jason Leffler Great Clips Chevrolet 40.727 176.787
23 87 Joe Nemechek NEMCO Motorsports Toyota 40.766 176.618
24 49 Dennis Setzer Jay Robinson Inc. Chevrolet 40.815 176.406
25 7 Josh Wise Air Hogs Chevrolet 40.864 176.194
26 39 Danny Efland Go Green Racing Ford 40.897 176.052
27 01 Mike Wallace Cowboys & Aliens Chevrolet 40.907 176.009
28 64 David Reutimann(i) Aspen Dental Toyota 40.940 175.867
29 51 Jeremy Clements Diamond Pistons Chevrolet 40.973 175.725
30 74 JJ Yeley Riverwalk Cafe Chevrolet 41.110 175.140
31 40 Charles Lewandoski # Precision Werx Chevrolet 41.151 174.965
32 44 Jeff Green TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet 41.183 174.829
33 14 Eric McClure Hefty BlackOut/Reynolds Chevrolet 41.206 174.732
34 42 Tim Andrews Key Motorsports Chevrolet 41.409 173.875
35 28 Derrike Cope Jay Robinson Inc. Chevrolet 41.437 173.758
36 13 Jennifer Jo Cobb # DriverBoutique Ford 41.447 173.716
37 41 Carl Long Lilly Trucking of VA Chevrolet 41.459 173.666
38 89 Morgan Shepherd Victory in Jesus Racing Chevrolet 41.503 173.481
39 15 Timmy Hill # EPH Tools Ford 41.618 173.002
40 75 Andy Ponstein Lilly Trucking of VA Ford 41.680 172.745
41 23 Robert Richardson, Jr. North TX Pipe Dodge Owner Points
42 52 Tony Raines(i) MDS Trucking/Metro Ministries Chevrolet Owner Points
43 03 Scott Riggs North TX Pipe Chevrolet 41.693 172.691