Hamlin and Busch give Joe Gibbs 1-2 in Richmond

Denny Hamlin wins again at Richmond
CIA Stock Photo

Denny Hamlin outdueled his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch to win the Air Guard 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Richmond. Jimmie Johnson came home third for Hendricks Motorsports.

Hamlin will go into the Chase as the top seed after scoring his series-leading sixth victory of the season Saturday night.

Greg Biffle and Clint Bowyer round out the 12-driver field for the Cup Series championship.

It was Hamlin's 3rd win on the 0.75-mile Richmond short track.

It was Hamlin's series-best sixth win of the season and pushed him past four-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson for the top seed in the Chase. The points were reset after Saturday night's race, and Hamlin goes to the Chase opener next week at New Hampshire with a 10-point lead over Johnson.

"I hope you guys are ready for a good 10 weeks," he radioed his crew. It's the first time in Hamlin's career he's been the points leader.

Regular-season points-leader Kevin Harvick took the third seed, 30 points behind Hamlin. Busch, also 30 behind Hamlin, gave Toyota and JGR a 1-2 finish.

Kurt Busch, winner of the inaugural 2004 Chase, is the fifth seed, followed by Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle, who secured his spot in the 12-driver field just 30 laps into Saturday night when start-and-park driver Jason Leffler called it a night. Biffle was guaranteed a spot in the Chase by finishing 42nd or better.

He wound up 32nd.

Jeff Gordon will be seeded eighth, the first of five drivers winless this season who will start the Chase 60 points behind Hamlin.

Clint Bowyer was the only real driver on the "bubble" at the start of Saturday night, but had a stout car, led 33 laps and finished sixth to grab the final Chase spot.

"As happy as I am to make the Chase, I was frustrated with the finish," Bowyer said. "We were a second-place car and made an attempt to pass Denny a couple of times and slipped clear to sixth."

Results

FIN ST CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR PTS/BNS LAPS STATUS
1 14 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Office 195/10 400 Running
2 32 18 Kyle Busch Toyota M&M's 170/0 400 Running
3 11 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe's 170/5 400 Running
4 6 20 Joey Logano Toyota The Home Depot 160/0 400 Running
5 13 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota Kroger 155/0 400 Running
6 4 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Cheerios / Hamburger Helper 155/5 400 Running
7 2 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet Target 151/5 400 Running
8 3 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford Insignia HDTV / Best Buy 142/0 400 Running
9 20 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 138/0 400 Running
10 1 99 Carl Edwards Ford Cheez-It / Kellogg's 139/5 400 Running
11 23 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet U.S. Army 130/0 400 Running
12 22 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet National Guard Military Intelligence / DuPont 127/0 400 Running
13 25 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet Caterpillar 129/5 400 Running
14 12 17 Matt Kenseth Ford Crown Royal 121/0 400 Running
15 8 12 Brad Keselowski Dodge Penske Racing 118/0 400 Running
16 15 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet Old Spice / Office Depot 115/0 400 Running
17 34 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 112/0 400 Running
18 21 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 109/0 400 Running
19 5 00 David Reutimann Toyota Aaron's Dream Machine 106/0 398 Running
20 19 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet GoDaddy.com 103/0 398 Running
21 18 13 Casey Mears Toyota GEICO 100/0 398 Running
22 29 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota NAPA Brakes 97/0 398 Running
23 26 6 David Ragan Ford UPS 94/0 398 Running
24 31 82 Scott Speed Toyota Red Bull 91/0 398 Running
25 17 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet Furniture Row Companies 88/0 398 Running
26 7 98 Paul Menard Ford Pittsburgh Paints / Menards 85/0 397 Running
27 36 19 Elliott Sadler Ford Stanley 82/0 397 Running
28 33 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge Mobil 1 79/0 397 Running
29 10 9 Kasey Kahne Ford Budweiser / 2011 World Police & Fire Games 76/0 396 Running
30 27 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet Mohawk Northeast 73/0 396 Running
31 42 83 Mattias Ekstrom Toyota Red Bull 70/0 396 Running
32 24 16 Greg Biffle Ford 3M 67/0 395 Running
33 28 71 Landon Cassill Chevrolet Post-9 / 11 GI Bill 64/0 395 Running
34 9 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Amp Energy / National Guard 61/0 394 Running
35 38 38 Travis Kvapil Ford Long John Silver's 58/0 393 Running
36 16 26 Jeff Green Ford Air National Guard 55/0 393 Running
37 39 37 David Gilliland Ford Charter Air Transport 52/0 393 Running
38 40 34 Tony Raines Ford A&W All American Food 49/0 392 Running
39 43 09 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet Phoenix Construction 46/0 324 Out of Race
40 44 55 Terry Labonte Toyota Gander Mountain 43/0 143 Running
41 41 7 Kevin Conway * Toyota Extenze 40/0 118 Running
42 30 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota Chuck Levin's Washington Music Center 37/0 61 Running
43 35 132 Jason Leffler Toyota Braun Racing 34/0 30 Running

* Denotes Rookie