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NASCAR: Denny Hamlin Wins at the Monster Mile

Samuel Sica
May 31, 2008

This week, the Nationwide SeriesĀ headed to Delaware to take on The Monster Mile. The race ended up being delayed three hours due to rain, which pushed theĀ start of the race to 6 PM Eastern Time.

Carl Edwards started the race from the pole position, with Denny Hamlin alongside in second. Hamlin did not even allow Edwards to lead a lap. as he took off on the start and led the first 37Ā laps of the race.

Hamlin would lose the lead on lap 38, after being passed by Kyle Busch. Busch led for a good part of the race, until a caution flag came out just after the halfway point. The caution flag wasĀ for Brad Coleman pounding the wall in turn one, due to aĀ cut tire.

Under the caution, the leaders would all come down pit road for fresh tires and fuel. Unfortunately for Kyle Busch, though, as he was exitingĀ pit road he was hit in the side by Brad Keselowski coming out of his pit box. This would cause both Busch and Keselowski toĀ come back to pit road to fix the damageĀ causing them toĀ restart atĀ the rear of the field.

Hamlin proved to be the beneficiaryĀ of Busch's bad luck, because he was now the leader on the restart. Hamlin would continue to lead as the race stayed green for a good 55 laps—until a cautionĀ flag waved for Marcos Ambrose cutting down a tire in turn two.

This cautionĀ was a tough break for Kevin Harvick who had to make a green flag stop due to aĀ tire going down just laps before the caution. HarvickĀ was runningĀ in the top five at the time of his problem.

The leaders all came down pit road for what would be their lastĀ pit stops of the day. Hamlin would hold serve and come off pit road as theĀ leader once again.

Shortly after the restart, another caution flag flew for an incident involving Jason Keller and David Ragan in turn two. Keller would continue, but the crash ended Ragan's day.

Hamlin led the field down for the restart with just 32 laps remaining. But unfortunately, bad luck struck Busch again, when teammate Jason Leffler got loose in turn one, causing him to slide up the track right into Kyle.Ā 

Both ended upĀ hitting the wall hard, forcing them to drop out of theĀ race. Busch also had some very harsh words forĀ Leffler after the race, saying that Leffler is sick of being the number-two driver at Braun Racing.

HamlinĀ drove away from the rest of the field on the restart. leading the remaining 28 laps of the race. It was Hamlin's second win of the season in the Nationwide Series, and Joe Gibbs Racing'sĀ ninth win of the season.

The top ten were Hamlin, Edwards, David Stremme, David Reutimann, Greg Biffle, Joey Logano,Ā Keselowski, Mike Wallace, Clint Bowyer, and Kasey Kahne. Some notables include Dario Franchitti, who was making his first start since his accident at Talladega, in 15th, Jason Keller in 16th, Kevin Harvick in 17th, and Kyle Busch ended up finishing in the 28th position.

The top ten in the Nationwide Series points are: Bowyer, Busch, Edwards, Reutimann, Keselowski, Mike Bliss, Ragan, Leffler, Mike Wallace, and Stremme.

Dover is now in the history books, and we can all look forward to racing under the lights in Nashville next week.Ā Ā