Denny Hamlin Wins Southern 500 At Darlington Raceway

Denny Hamlin scored his third win on Saturday night in the Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway one of Nascar's crown jewel events. Hamlin won the 61st Southern 500 pulling away from the field in the closing laps at Darlington and gave Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota two straight wins after Kyle Busch won Richmond last week. Jamie McMurray the pole-sitter would finish second and continues to have a great season in the #1 McDonald's Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet. Kurt Busch in the #2 Miller Lite Dodge finished third followed by Jeff Gordon who was once again one of the best cars at Darlington, only to have issues getting onto pit road with the final pit stop with 20 laps to go. Gordon missed pit road, then when he came back around the caution came out and they lost spots. Jeff Burton also was strong but ran over a air hose and that ended his chance at victory on the last round of pit stops.

Several drivers had a rough night at Darlington on Saturday including the four time Nascar Champion Jimmie Johnson who was involved in a hard crash with AJ Allmendinger who had brake failure. Clint Bowyer and Tony Stewart both had trouble in the race, and a bad night for Bobby Labonte also he had several issues in the #71 car. Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr both had issues, Truex was a top 5 car at one time Saturday night only to end up with a disappointing finish. Kevin Harvick keeps the points lead over Jimmie Johnson and extends it to 110 points going into the Monster Mile at Dover Speedway next weekend.

Showtime Southern 500 Results Darlington Raceway.

1.Denny Hamlin

2.Jamie McMurray

3.Kurt Busch

4.Jeff Gordon

5.Juan Montoya

6.Kevin Harvick

7.Kyle Busch

8.Jeff Burton

9.Ryan Newman

10.Brian Vickers

11.David Reuitmann

12.Brad Keselowski

Dale Earnhardt Jr finished 18th, while last year's winner Mark Martin was 16th. Martin has yet to go to victory lane this season after scoring five wins in 2009. Tony Stewart finished in 23rd and Jimmie Johnson ends up with a 36th place finish at the track too tough to tame Darlington Raceway.

Nascar Sprint Cup Series Point Standings After Darlington.

1.Kevin Harvick *Leader*

2.Jimmie Johnson -110

3.Kyle Busch -113

4.Jeff Gordon -147

5.Matt Kenseth -150

A triple header next weekend with the Camping World Trucks, the Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup Series in Dover, Delaware next weekend. This was the first time Hamlin sweep races on the same weekend, he won the Nationwide race Friday night at Darlington.