Eventhough Jeff Gordon had the win on his hand, Denny Hamlin -somehow- pulled out the victory at postponed Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500 in Martinsville Speedway.
The postponed race ended with a green-white-checkered finish after Kyle Busch who was running 3rd wrecked his car into the outside wall with a lap to go in regulation while Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman were leading the field to the race’s final green flag. However Hamlin, who had given up the lead for a questionable four tires pit stop with nine laps remaining, stormed from 9nth to 4rth to challenge for the lead almost immediately when Gordon got loose in turn one after contact from 3rd-place Matt Kenseth on the restart. Kenseth slipped inside to push to the lead down the backstretch but Kenseth’s momentum and a tap from Gordon carried him high in turn three and into the wall, and Hamlin was there to inherit the lead.
"I can’t believe it". I thought it was the end. That’s for all the people who doubt us. We’re still going to get this done before the year is over with. I had to bully my way through there near the end, but everybody was running like that. I somehow made it work.”
Ironically, Hamlin was supposed to be undergoing knee surgery Monday. Instead, he operated on everyone else!
Hamlin injured his left knee while playing basketball in January, and he had been scheduled to have reconstructive surgery Monday in Charlotte, N.C. When rain postponed Sunday’s race to Monday, the surgery was rescheduled for Tuesday.
Gordon, who finished third behind Hamlin teammate Joey Logano, was searching for his first win since April of last year at Texas Motor Speedway. Gordon was running toward the win when Kyle Busch, racing three wide with Marcos Ambrose and Paul Menard, made contact with Menard and hit the outside wall, sparking caution as the leaders eyed the white flag.
"The real unfortunate part was that the yellow came out then". We had the thing wrapped up. On the last restart, I didn’t get a great start, but it was pretty decent. I drove into one trying to not overcook it. He (Kenseth) drove into the back of me so hard, but I made sure he wasn’t going to win the race after that."
