Denny Hamlin won Sunday's Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway – and it was no contest in the second race of NASCAR's Chase.
Though he started deep in the field, Hamlin drove his vastly superior car to a 2.675-second victory over runner-up Jimmie Johnson. The victory was Hamlin's fifth of the season and the 22nd of his Cup career.
Pole-sitter Jeff Gordon ran third to keep his faint championship hopes alive. Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart ran fourth through seventh, as Chase drivers swept the top seven spots.
Hamlin started 32nd because of a mistake with tire pressures during Friday's time trials, but before the race had reached Lap 100, the driver of the No. 11 Toyota had the lead. Hamlin passed Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch on Lap 94 and proceeded to dust the field the rest of the way.
Hamlin held a lead of more than seven seconds over Johnson when NASCAR called the third debris caution of the race, and fourth overall, on Lap 272. The yellow bunched the field, but it didn't matter, as Hamlin sped away after a restart on Lap 278 and easily held off Johnson, who finished second for the second straight race and took the Chase lead by one point over Keselowski.
Here are the NASCAR results today from New Hampshire:
- Denny Hamlin
- Jimmie Johnson
- Jeff Gordon
- Clint Bowyer
- Kasey Kahne
- Brad Keselowski
- Tony Stewart
- Joey Logano
- Brian Vickers
- Ryan Newman
- Kevin Harvick
- Paul Menard
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Matt Kenseth
- Jeff Burton
- Regan Smith
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Greg Biffle
- Carl Edwards
- Bobby Labonte
- Sam Hornish Jr.
- Juan Pablo Montoya
- Aric Almirola
- Marcos Ambrose
- Kurt Busch
- Jamie McMurray
- Landon Cassill
- Kyle Busch
- David Ragan
- David Reutimann
- Travis Kvapil
- David Gilliland
- Mike Olsen
- Stephen Leicht
- David Stremme
- Casey Mears
- Michael McDowell
- Scott Speed
- Joe Nemechek
- Tony Raines
- JJ Yeley
- Reed Sorenson
- Kelly Bires